Understanding Your Calling - Ron Matsen - Body Builders #11

well welcome back to our conference on leadership for the end times in this session we're going to be looking at understanding your calling and we're going to begin by looking at 2 Peter chapter 1 Peter writes Simon Peter a bondservant an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust but also for this very reason giving all diligence add to your faith virtue to virtue knowledge to knowledge self-control to self-control perseverance to perseverance godliness to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love for if these things are yours and abound you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ for he lacks these things is short-sighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins therefore brethren be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things you will never stumble for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Peter as he's beginning this second epistle wants to encourage the followers of Christ to be diligent in the service of Christ and he's asking them to do something that when you look at it in the first instance can be quite confusing what is he asking us to do to make our calling and election sure now I can assure you that if you just simply have a computerized Bible in English you do a word search on the word calling an election by the time you finish that exercise you will be thoroughly confused it is not something that's very simple to understand and so we're going to first deal with this issue of what it is to be called because this in this session we're going to be looking at understanding your calling now there are many different words translated called but we're gonna focus on just a few first of all we are called to become a believer in Jesus Christ that's our first calling and to be faithful to that calling to the Corinthians Paul writes in chapter 1 verse 9 God is faithful by whom you were called into the Fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord so our first calling is unto Jesus Christ you know I have people often as a pastor come to me and say you know I'm trying to determine what my calling is and and they're thinking of that in the first instance as a vocation what should I be doing with my time good question but it's a question that needs to be built upon a foundation of callings the first calling needs to be that you are a believer in Jesus Christ without that and I have seen this you can actually get people who are operating vocationally in the body of Christ who aren't even believers they're laboring in the body of Christ and they're fulfilling functions but they actually are not members of the body of Christ so your first calling is to be a believer in Jesus Christ your next call to become a disciple of Jesus Christ you remember as Jesus is calling individuals to himself Luke records Jesus saying to them all if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me and of course there's loads of different places we could look to in terms of the calling of the disciples in the the sense of the twelve or the seventy and so on and so forth but it is going beyond just being a believer to becoming a disciple and it's important that we understand that place when you study the Gospel as we present it to the world that many believe that we are to make believers we are not we are to go into all the world and make disciples disciples is a different relationship than just simply having a a cognitive acceptance of who Jesus is and what he's done for us that does not put you in Christ that just puts you looking at Christ in that type of relationship we need to be in Christ and we accomplish that by faith through a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit in which were born into the body of Christ and therefore covered by the righteousness of Christ and seen by the father as if we are Christ in terms of not our own righteousness but robed in His righteousness so we're secondly we're called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ third we are then called to be witnesses again it's important that you that you deliver that which you first received I've been around people who who try to be a witness for Christ without themselves first understanding what it is they're even supposed to be presenting in Matthew chapter 28 beginning in verse 18 Jesus came and spoke to them saying all Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age and so we have what is generally referred to as the Great Commission and that Great Commission is to every single member of the body of Christ it is not exclusive to those who might give themselves the label of evangelist or to some pastor or teacher it is universal for all believers you know one of the questions I ask people when we get in the issue of calling is in essence what do you think you are called to to be a trophy of God or a tool for God and I can assure you none of us are trophies God did not get a good deal when he purchased us with the precious blood of Jesus Christ we were in the throw away bin and we were paid for with the highest price in the universe that could ever be conceived we can't even fathom the depth and the breadth of that price that was paid for us and so we should never come away with an idea that got God got some kind of deal in procuring us and reconciling us unto himself but as such we all have the responsibility to be witnesses for Jesus Christ it should be something that is a natural byproduct of someone who actually knows what they're saved from now given the demographics of this audience I'm going to be really careful I recognize I'm going to really get myself in trouble here but I know that if my wife goes shopping and she goes someplace and see some things that's a fantastic deal she doesn't come home and bury it she of course tells all of her friends she's but that's not fair I do too if I see something that's a fantastic deal I honestly feel a compulsion to share it with people that I care about and so as we look at this third calling you recognize this should not be something that should ever frighten us this should be something that excites us because if it's not exciting you then you don't know what's happened yeah well the God of the whole universe who creates and sustains absolutely everything from the macro to the micro you know yeah he saw me before the foundation of the world called me unto himself sent His only begotten Son to take upon himself my sin and all I need to do is repent and believe and he gives me not only everlasting life but he indwells me with the Holy Spirit and empowers me to be his witness past the cheese I mean and yet that's why some people really act about the gift of salvation they act as though it's it's no big deal and of course we certainly don't want to push this on anyone you know there's those things you don't talk about what are they politics religion and in-laws right I mean seriously it's the most important thing to talk about in the world what else is better what else is more meaningful and so we are called to be as witnesses and that should never be something that we should be embarrassed about oh I don't really I push this on you but you know IIIi have an eternal relationship with God Almighty and at the moment you're going to hell I'm going to spend eternity but I don't want to push myself on you Wow what kind of friend are you of course you're going to going to present that which is life-giving to them so our third calling is that of a witness and it should be a natural thing I love to use the example having been a pastor you have these young couples come to you and of course the bride comes up she is the one inevitably that will announce the engagement she there come up to you together and it's supposed to be the guy you've seen it right so the guys coming up he's got this goofy grin on his face and and the girl wants to enable her future husband to be the leader and so she's sitting there quietly and he comes up and he's kind of like well you know you know we've been seeing each other and you know we just have really been praying in the whole time you finally the girl burst forth and goes we're engaged see I mean try to keep that quiet right I mean she wants to tell everyone well we're engaged where we are the Bride of Christ we're waiting for our bridegroom why are we not just equally as proud I've never seen somebody say well we're engaged but we're trying to keep it really quiet because we don't offend any of you that aren't engaged I mean that's just not the way it works is it so that's our third calling is that that we are witnesses for Christ the fourth which is the area we're going to focus on in this study is we are called to be functioning members of the body of Christ there are no vestigial members in the body of Christ that's a term which means that you're there drawing sustenance but provide no benefit you know there was a time in in sort of modern medicine that they thought there's various facets and organs and aspects of your life was residual they were there from some previous evolutionary stage now we now know that's not true i growing up in the 1950s of course as soon as i got a sore throat the tonsils were vestigial you didn't need them so you took him out so thank you very much I have no defense now that was naturally there because that was what was done in the 1950s to deal with sore throats ah that's just misses you you don't need those things well they're desperately important and that shouldn't have been dealt with so there are no vestigial members of the body of Christ we are all there for some function and part of why you are here is to not only discuss this but we're going to conduct a lab course afterwards for you to discover that if you don't know and if you do know how to discover what your next step needs to be because these conferences are good in the sense that they provide information but if that information doesn't equip you to actually do something with it we failed and so we're going to focus on this fact that we understand that for as Paul tells the Corinthians 1 Corinthians 12 beginning in verse 12 for as the body is one and has many members but all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ but by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jew or Greek where the slaves are free and all have been made to drink into one spirit for in fact the body is not one member but many and so we had this interesting description of this living organism now what part of your body is more important than the other if I asked you that there is a part that is more important they all have different functions they all can preside over each they're in service of one another to the benefit we might think our mind is important but without the heart providing the mind with its source of oxygen and nutrition the mind would be dull so the mind needs the heart but the heart needs the mind and so there is a relationship that in one sense is subservient but it also ministers one to another and I think part of the problem that we see in the body of Christ today is because we are using a corporate view of the body of Christ rather than a biblical a structural view of the body of Christ a nickel a attuned view of the body of Christ we've moved away from the organic sense of what the body is now the church is really a great expression of diversity within a framework of unity there is only one body you know again as a pastor 20-plus years just in England alone there are all these churches together type movements that were going on and they would always approach me and say you know it's really sad that the body of Christ is so divided and I'd say I'm sorry I don't agree with you what no we're not divided that there's only one body the body is together and we know that we're in the body if we're connected to the head I'm not so sure that everyone that calls themselves a member of the body of Christ is connected to the head but that's another issue what we really see is it is is more of a sense of not knowing how to to understand and work with one another within the body of Christ that's the real issue here it's not a matter of us being divided it's a matter of the fact that we haven't seen the benefit of settling into what we do best and recognize there's other people that do other things best and allow the master of them all the head Christ to guide and direct and let him be the one that decides whether or not it's useful or or whatever so that's that sense of diversity within the framework of unity when we consider this mystical body of Christ it's amazing and we could spend a lot of time in this area but for for the sake of what we're trying to accomplish here we're look at the sense of how do we we know that each member has a specific function or calling within the body of Christ we're told that when Corinthians 12 is the best place to go for that and I would commend to you a detailed study of this I hope that all this becomes is is the pre dish before the main meal I hope you don't go away from this weekend thinking that you've heard all there is to say about these subjects of the church or leadership or anything I hope all we've done is give you the smell from the kitchen and that you are you are you leave this place with an appetite so voracious to no more because it's through the work of the Holy Spirit that you're actually going to find out what's really behind all this so I'm trying to just point you in the general areas for you to be responsible to be self feeders and so one of the places you can look to with regards to the the members of the body of Christ and the gifts of the Christ is in 1 Corinthians 12 and we'll begin in verse 4 there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit there are differences of ministries but the same Lord there are diversities of activities but it is the same God who works in all but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all four to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit to another the word of knowledge through the same spirit to another faith by the same spirit to another gifts of healings by the same spirit to another the working of miracles to the other prophecy to another discerning of spirits to another different kinds of tongues to another interpretation of tongues but one in the same spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as he wills now I want us to pause here for a moment I would love to be able to develop that portion of Scripture in detail but for sake of what we're trying to accomplish here I won't but I will leave you with this notice that there are there are differences their diversity xand there's different aspects what that tries to give you in that trilogy of options means that there's all different kinds of ways in which this is accomplished it's also one of the things you need to inspect for yourself come to your own conclusion but these are gifts that are given severally by the Holy Spirit as he wills in other words did Paul always have the gift of healing no he makes that very clear that he left one of his ministry team members in Cyprus ill now did Paul not have the gift of healing he did when the Holy Spirit gave it to him did Paul always have the gift of knowledge no sometimes yes sometimes no you understand I'm sorry say we got to be real careful here that we don't immediately latch on to this portion of Scripture and say yep well I know the gift I have I have the gift of you know gab or something but I had I had in a discussion years ago someone come to me and say yeah I we're talking about you know knowing your gift he says I know what I have I'm a prophet and I said just like that yeah I'm a prophet how's it working for you yeah it's fine I'm really comfortable in I'm learning how to do that you know I've been to the school of the prophets oh okay yeah I remember one of those you know those guys that floated the ax head and that stuff yeah I've got the school of prophets so so how you doing on that prophecy scale you how many prophecies have you made that have come true oh I'm not that kind of prophet well so what kind of profit are you then oh I just you know I get those unction from the Lord and and all of a sudden it was this thing that no one could test but because he wanted a label so bad you notice I I never heard lots of people say they're prophets or here's another one I have the gift of discernment sweet okay that's it that your that's your gift nothing else and my point is this is that the the most important part of this passage is to recognize that when you unpack verse 11 you understand that the distribution is at the time for the appropriate tool with the appropriate person at that time the people that run around and say I have the gift of this or I have the gift of that the Holy Spirit is the one that gives it gives the gifts individually when it's necessary to do the work at the time and you can demonstrate that from Scripture but we'll leave that and again I commend that to you to do more detailed research on that don't believe me but taken away and research it because it will it will unlock what a lot of people have tried to clamp down because they're looking for labels they want something on their badge in Ephesians chapter 4 beginning in verse 11 he himself gave some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of a Son of God to a perfect man to the measure and the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting but speaking the truth and love may grow up in all things to him who is the head Christ from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its sheer causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love now when you take Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12 and you put them together you recognize they're effectively saying the same thing from two different angles that we have these functions within the body of Christ that the Holy Spirit orchestrates and when each and every individual is doing what they are called to do at that moment it's music consider it like a conductor over an orchestra hundreds of people or a hundred people are so sitting before the conductor if each and every one of them plays their instrument at that time according to his direct it's beautiful but if one person begins to be in discord it throws the whole thing off and that's the sense that's being done here is the orchestration of that should only and can be only accomplished by the Holy Spirit and herein is the problem of denominationalism with regards to Christianity is when you make a man-made structure try to do that organization it's a failure because we cannot possibly know all of the permutation z' of giftings and diversities and timings and everything else that take place in the body of Christ I certainly don't know that and I don't know of anyone else except for a pretense of organized denominational type of religions and and and and and structures of hierarchy that presupposes that they are going to orchestrate what's happening within the body of Christ the sense of the organism being organic is totally different as we as we approach this now with that very hurried background I want us to now go through a little bit of an exercise and begin with a rhetorical question of how do we understand our place in the body of Christ probably the fourth most asked question as a pastor I get you already know what the other three are we dealt with that in the previous session is how do I know what I'm supposed to be doing you know people come to me what and when I would be you know as a teacher or pastor within a church and think that I'm the Bible answer man and I would say how do I know again hi I would frustrate because I'd say why are you asking me as if this is my church people oh yeah how does it you know how how's your church doing and I go I don't have a church what I thought you were past not know I passed her in a in a church fellowship but I don't have a church I think I was telling some of you earlier this morning at lunchtime you know that when we move from England to here people that I knew there said so when when you get down to New Zealand you're gonna start a church and I said no I'm gonna work in the church which church well how can I start a church down in New Zealand what do you mean Jesus is the one who establishes the church I don't establish the church oh do you mean working in the body of Christ yeah I hope to do that of course I mean why not but this whole idea of establishing something see there's that sense of even the term denomination means to give one's name what did Paul tell the Corinthians that they they were carnal carnally minded in the sense that they wanted to attach themselves to names well I'm of a Paulist I'm of Cephas I'm of Paul I'm of Christ they want that sense of labeling were to move away from that so against that backdrop how do we understand our place in the body of Christ okay I've made it mystical thank you very much you've given me now no structure whereby I can be validated that's one of the reasons why we feel we need structure we want validation don't we we want somebody to come along and say you've completed X courses or done so many things here's your piece of paper now you're ordained we feel comfortable in that but that's not the way the biblical church works that's not the sample that you'll see in Scripture you'll see quite the opposite so let's deal with that are you perhaps suffering from what I call the paralysis of analysis you know that sense where I'm trying to figure out which is it what should I be what should I do which is my calling well first of all remember that calling is is a is a sequential set of callings first are you a believer in Jesus Christ let's settle that first number two are you a disciple of Jesus Christ I find most people stop there well what do you mean well you better be a disciple of Christ first or a second number third are you a witness for Christ is witnessing a natural sense I don't mean you go out in the street corners and you know pass out leaflets I mean Israel is your life just bursting forth with excitement about the Savior that's that's raised you from the dead I wonder how silent Lazarus was after he was called for from the dead I bet he went and said I don't want to push my religion on anybody you know I mean he saw he was dead he was dead well sometimes because we make it so clinical we suffer from the paralysis of analysis we're going I know what where's my strengths see if I'm looking for a secular job I would list my my my strong points and then I would put power words around that and I would build my CV based on those accomplishments are you looking for direction well what should I do perhaps you've been through that and say okay I think this is what I'm supposed to be doing but where should I do it I love the example of the Apostle Paul on his second missionary journey he begins the journey by busting up with his previous partner and he sets off and and and goes through an area that he was familiar with and then it says then he attempted to go to Bethany and the Holy Spirit forbidden begin to tempted to go to Messiah and the Holy Spirit prevented him and so he ends up at land's end he ends up at Rojas he's run out of Asia there's no more Asia left and it's one east to the end of himself he must have been looking where am I supposed to be going and it was then he had the vision of the man from Macedonia and the very next day Luke records they got in a boat and sailed and off they were to to ultimately Philip I all right so the point is this is that looking for direction you find yourself in that position well and and I'm going to take a little bit of fun here in the sense I'm gonna take us through 12 steps now I did that intentionally it could have been 11 it could be 13 I'm gonna take you through this now so so let's first talk about understanding your calling the first and foremost thing when someone comes to me and says how do I know what the Lord wants me to do I first always focus on the first thing God wants you to do is be faithful we dealt with that in our first session didn't we the sense of faithfulness sets is the core of any meaningful relationship could you imagine if you were you owned a business and you were trying to employ people and you said you know I run a restaurant and I'm looking for some people to wait on some table some people work in the kitchen some people who work the cash register and whatever and and the person says I'm a wonderful cook and and a great demeanor with customers and I can do any any of those things and I've got all these places I've worked I worked there for a week and I worked there for six days and I were there for five minutes and you begin to realize wow this guy can't keep a job he might be incredibly talented but the one thing that is first and foremost in my mind is are you someone I can trust so the same is true with us the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him that is the first element you need to take and look and say Lord is my heart oil to you will I be found faithful will I be found faithful that is number one I believe in understanding your calling you need to answer that question and you need to answer it before God who knows the hearts of all men you can't lie you can lie to me and everyone else around you there's one person in the universe you can't lie to and that's God number two you need to rely on what I call the protection of divine direction you know the Bible tells us that God directs the steps of his children I depend on this so much psalm 37:23 tells us the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way who delights in whose way God delights in my way the way he's taking me and I need to rest in that is that he is directing my steps part of the thing that I find with people that are looking for direction is is how do I know continuing though he fall he shall not utterly be cast down for the Lord upholds him with his right hand what a great comfort not only is he directing my steps he knows not if but when I fall he's there to pick me up why because I'm in his pathway you see if my heart is loyal to him and I'm found faithful then I have to believe as with Paul sitting intro as he's looking for the direction of God God gives me a vision there's no committee meeting that happened afterwards it's that's the door that's the door I stand before you and I think I am an example of an individual who is someplace that I never thought I would be now please don't take this as an any offence but coming in New Zealand was never on my bucket list now only because of ignorance and not because I lived in England for 20 years which I loved I loved being in a place in an hour and 20 minutes I could be in the heart of London or in Portsmouth I could be in three hours I could be in cross at France and have a lovely baguette in the morning and I love the sense of being in European I felt more European than I ever was American I felt really connected with that and when Chuck and Nancy Miller moved down here and said they wanted to be here I was one of those that nodded our head you know not in my head and said good for you chuck enjoy it but when I came down here last year in 2011 and saw what God had put on the heart of check all of a sudden we begin to say this is this is a pathway that the Lord is opening up we need to pray about this and we did in to our astonishment the Lord said yep go in that direction no pre-planning in that sense incredibly risky but yet I rely on God's protection and in His divine direction why not who's better hands can you commit your life to number-3 dedicates your heart we've dealt with this in other sessions about the importance of protecting our heart for out of it issue comes the issues of life dedicating your heart really is not some kind of metaphysical exercise dedicating your heart is when you ask God to reveal his heart to your heart that's how you know you have a right heart created me a clean heart search me O God and know my heart try me and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting I love the double edged sword their Lord opened me up open-heart surgery here get out the sword of the word of truth and cut me to bits if you have to but open me up let me really see where your heart is part of our problem and part of the problem people have in discovering their calling is they follow their heart which has not been taken to the to the to the foot of the cross they have some desire and we're going to deal with that a little later on but if that heart issue in your life is the heart that Jeremiah speaks about that that heart that is desperately wicked who can know it that heart is the one that's going to conceal the real motive which is the exaltation of you rather than the lifting up of Christ do you see what I'm saying so the idea here is that when I say dedicate your heart I really mean allow God to first show you what your heart is and then if it's not beating with his to do the open-heart surgery so that your heart is burning with is because once your heart is burning with real heartburn that's there by divine intervention in your life then you have a real partner in enable Ewing enabling you in the area of understanding your calling make sure that your heart is fully committed to Corinthians 9:7 you know I love this this of course in the context is dealing with people giving of monetary things but I think it's also applicable to anything we give to the Lord Paul was out on his second missionary journey a third missionary journey he was out collecting funds to take back to Jerusalem and to the Corinthians he writes so let each one give as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful Giver let me tell you nothing is then have someone who is who is grinding under the yoke of some ministry that they don't love I'm doing this because no one else is willing to do it so there's your cup of coffee enjoy it and please don't you know come back for a second because this is my ministry got it good wash your own cup you know and and I'm being facetious but if you can't love what you do then don't do it at all I always say in terms of ministry if you don't love it don't do it because you will only injure yourself and the ministry by doing it you got to love it I love what I do I love it I love what God is doing in my life I couldn't be happier I don't get paid a penny for it and I'm loving it I'm not here because many other reasons I love it and I love the fact that you're here because if you were here I wouldn't get the chance to do what I love so thank you for allowing me to do what I love make sure your heart is fully committed and you will know if you don't have a heart that's really into something please don't do it don't volunteer just because there you see well somebody's got to do it man leave it leave it undone number four open your eyes to the opportunities around you again I've had so many people who come along and say oh I don't know what to do and and I'm like are you blind seriously there's no shortage of ministry opportunities only ministers willing to undertake those opportunities in my church back in England one time we had a leadership day I love to call them leadership days because then you get all the poseurs that come out along with also the server's people that are looking for ya when you gonna give out the badges that have my name and elder on it you know I want one of those and maybe with a couple of ribbons off of them oops am i stepping on toes here sorry but you understand I mean and and I remember one time I stood up and I had this big whiteboard and this is probably for my corporate running meetings background and I went to the board and I said let's name the things our church could be doing so of course you know Sunday school mums and toddlers grew men's prayer breakfast men's love breakfast breakfast and then we kind of got two or three things down and then we just stopped because we were small fellowship that's all they could think about so I said I said okay so we've got about five things we could develop here if we wanted to develop it I said if any of you ever attended a really large church and a couple I'm said yeah and I said what do they do and of course the list began to grow and pretty soon we about forty things of things we could do and I'd simply looked at him I said now we've developed we've gone from a list of a half a dozen to more than forty are those things not worthy of being done here are they not opportunities that if God raises up somebody we shouldn't try to facilitate that and I think it was a real sense of the fact that oftentimes we limit ourselves by what we believe to bear opportunities because we approach this in a predisposition well I went to the church I didn't see anybody who needed somebody running the PA so I know that there's no ministry for me there Wow okay you're really limited Paul with his small ministry team attempted to go to both iniya and Amisha ends up intro as can you imagine at the vision from the man from Macedonia and Paul goes that's Europe I'm an Asia kind of guy I'm not going to Europe it's full of heathens do you see them saying open your eyes to the opportunities that are around you Jesus in a number of instances but nonetheless in in Matthew nine said to his disciples the harvest is truly plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the field the problem is not a lack of opportunity the problem is the lack of people be willing to look for opportunity having not only pastored churches but in parallel with that I was what they call by vocational and I always pastored a church and also worked making tent so to speak I ran offices and and I always felt that one of the key things I wanted to see from my employees here were people that I didn't need to supervise people that needed me to give them a to-do list were people that I soon looked for a way to get him out the door people that came to me to help them do which they already knew needed to be done were people that I try to advance they develop their own to-do lists you understand I'm saying and and we too should be when we go before the Lord you should take pen and paper you're going in before the master and is any servant you're there to not bring your list we go in with these toilet paper roll we're the list our prayers are like okay God I've only got a few minutes so listen up here we go blah-blah-blah-blah-blah amen that's the way of saying now go do it when in fact we need to go there and sit there quietly and experience the sense of what it is to sit and wait for God to speak and if he's not speaking presupposing perhaps you're not listening enough until he does listen tell you I'll speak to you and then begin to take notes you find that in the corporate world you would never go if if the chief executive officer is a company called you up and says I'd like to see you in my office in 15 minutes you certainly wouldn't go in without a pad of paper and a pencil you know you know what you're going in they're not for you to give him direction you're going in there because he's going to tell you to do something and so you need to open your eyes Jesus says the harvest is plentiful in other words there's more to do than there are people to do it so if you are not active it's not because there's not enough work it's just you haven't seen what God's put at your very feet many people I believe are at Troas and they're wondering well so this is it I guess I just have to stay here for a while and just be faithful to watch the Sun go down and come up and live my life no there's a harvest number five you need to look to flourish in the area of your weakness now here's something that is antithetical to the world why because God is looking for availability not capability that is so important you understand that again at the Corinthians chapter 1 beginning in verse 26 you see your calling brethren that not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence but of him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and the righteousness and sanctification and redemption that as it is written he Oh glories let him glory in the Lord if you think that God is looking for your area of expertise you're looking in the wrong area well Lord I'm a great communicator good then go sweep floors for a while and see what God does with that I'm not saying he can't use the talent that he is embedded there the Apostle Paul speaks of the fact that there was benefit in the sense that he was raised as a Hebrew of Hebrews that he sat at the feet of Gamaliel he was a voracious reader of the of the scrolls we are told but yet we are told that which he took most comfort in was not that which he learned from man but that which he learned from God his three years in the wilderness experienced before his ministry started and then his isolation waiting for ultimately Barnabas to come and take him to to Antioch those are the rich times in his life because there is the real seminary that God puts into your life that which will be unique to your ministry you need to not be worried about the areas of well I'm not you know fanciful and speech isn't that what Paul said about himself I'm not mighty in speech right okay so the book of Romans the most beautiful written document in existence in in ancient Greek not bad but see here's the beauty because you know that it's from an inarticulate man you know that it has to be divinely inspired you see if you knew who was standing before you right now you wouldn't be here and if I knew who was gonna sit before me I wouldn't be here do you understand what I'm trying to get across that there's a sense of who we really are which we try to hide which is exactly the place that God wants to exalt to his own glory I've had too many people say to me I'm not qualified to do that and I say perfect you're just the one I'm looking for because you're the one that if anything comes of this it's got to be God and and let me tell you they're chuckle tell you there there's a lot of stuff we do here we think if anything comes of this is has got to be God because this sure not us what a great comfort that is you see God doesn't pay Commission you pay salaries I just want to be a faithful servant and if he calls me to do that which I think I'm incapable of doing it's his problem not mine I always feel that I am doing what I'm doing until the guy who's qualified comes along I'm the I'm the interim guy that's how I see myself I've been an interim guy for over 35 years in ministry waiting for somebody to come and replace me because I know what my shortcomings are painfully aware of them but God's looking for availability not capability Paul makes this confession therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches and needs and persecutions in distress for Christ's sake for when I am weak then I am strong what's wrong with that what a great way I have a fellow that for our church in Portsmouth he's a lovely man absolutely lovely man he went to our men and leadership meetings and and really came away with a heart on fire for the Lord and said what can I do lovely man soft-spoken and I said well I I we really need some men in sunny school oh wow I've never done anything like in my life and I said you're perfect you're perfect pray about it you know what he's phenomenal absolutely phenomenal because he spends days preparing because he doesn't know what he's doing and so he comes in with these elaborate lessons for these kids huge amount of effort he puts into these things because he's so fearful that he doesn't actually know what to do with kids and the kids absolutely love him he doesn't come in with oh yeah I've taught that year before and I've taught that less than six hundred times so I'll just get out that dust that off and go do that again no we flourish in the area of our weakness once you learn to focus your heart that here's a key thing I think then you can learn to follow your heart you see the compass of your heart is true when it's dedicated to the Lord that's why that priests Tech needs to be what dedicating your heart to God is all about when you've done that then you can begin to trust your heart delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart commit your way to the Lord Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass you know what I love that aspect about serving the Lord you say Lord take my heart and make it yours and then I find myself wanting to go to a beautiful country where there are wonderful people and I indulge myself and then God rewards me for being faithful isn't that great I have yet to meet a missionary who's gone to the four corners of the world some of them with the most hair-raising stories and not have them say I love where I am and I think you can have it you know dirt floors rice and beans good on you but they love it because they've allowed God to give them a heart transplant and then they follow their heart and and God gives them a heart for the places and the people that he's going to have the minister and you give them a heart and follow your heart and it's lovely so that you're not there working as it were under some kind of compulsion you're there because you love it and that's key I think you get to a point to where you can trust because your heart is the Lord's and you follow you heart another aspect of understanding your calling is seeking ministry partners now this is a tricky one but we need to understand that there's a real pattern of pairs in the Bible and it's one of the aspects of confirmation as you begin to get into this you may get to step 6 and say I really want to go do this but you begin that you really need to begin to look for confirmation at this point and one of the ways in which you can't see confirmation is that sense of ministry partners proverbs 27:17 says as iron sharpens iron so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend you know this passage is often misused with regards to conflict it's not this is the idea of two strong individuals of equal nature being able to knock the corners off each other you see I'm not look I'm not saying go find a sycophant a lot of people look for ministry partners which are nothing more than a sycophant the problem of that is they are never going to tell you is that that where you're going there they're struggling with and now it doesn't mean you can have people that are in support of what you're doing but in terms of ministry partners you have to have someone who can be honest with you and you can be honest with them ecclesiastes 9:9 tells us two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor for if they fall one will lift up his companion but woe to him who was alone when he falls for he has no one to help him up now I have to tell you that I've been in situations where I've been involved in in in various ministries as it were by myself although I had my wife with me we were ministry partners in that sense kind of Aquila and Priscilla in the in the book of Acts sort of thing and that's been a great comfort our relationship is strengthened by the fact that my wife is always ready and willing and able to tell me when I'm wrong and I'm happy for that I don't have to like it but I appreciate the fact that God's given her wisdom and the reason why is because she knows me and she knows me in that sense better than I know myself in many regards but I also know that that I've experienced that when you are teamed with an individual who is of like nature in the sense that you're both iron you you bu you do sharpen one another and you do if it's come if and you don't by the way the only way in what you sharpen is when you come from slightly different angles and the end is to sharpen if it's against each other you dull each other iron against each other does not sharpen anything it just destroys both it needs to be that sense of commitment to one another that if there is a different angle it's there for the purpose of sharpening the other person you have the benefit of the other in mind and so there is that sense so seeking ministry partners you know when we look at ministries and partner Jesus sent out the twelve disciples two by two mark six seven he sent out the 72 by two in Luke 10 one two disciples were sent to collect the donkey that Jesus was gonna ride in on his triumphal entry in Matthew 21 one two disciples were sent to prepare the Passover meal I mean you'll you'll see this patterning throughout the Ministry of Jesus Christ of the minimum unit is to you also see ministry teams of course the most celebrated is that of Paul and Barnabas acts 13 to 15 you also have Barnabas and Mark which we don't know anything about directly from the book of Acts because Luke was with the ministry team of of Paul but we do know that Barnabas went back through and ministered with mark we also know Paul and Silas chapters 16 to 18 and onwards we could we could list lots of these things but there's a great benefit in that in the sense of not only sharpening one another but to be there when the other Falls because you need to know that you have someone who is going to lift you up when you fall if you think you can be in ministry and not fall you're only fooling yourself you are because that's the way we learn by the way but you need to be surrounded by people who love you enough to on the one hand help you and correct you but another to also cover you and and protect you when you're in that state of um and I've made a real mess of that that you have a safe haven that you can go into during those stormy times number eight you need to look for divine confirmation now we're getting pretty deep now your heart is there you're beginning to see things come together you've got some some some synergism that the Lord seems to be directing and here is where I use the test of Gamaliel you remember this Pharisee who responded to the objection of the Sanhedrin to the Ministry of the early church chapter 5 verse 38 beginning he says now I say to you keep away from these men and let them alone for if this plan or this work is of men it will come to nothing but if it is of God you cannot overthrow it lest you even be found to fight against God you know what I find great conference in that because I have fallen on both sides of them I've had things that I honestly believed I got all the way to step 8 and I'm looking for confirmation and you know what it just Peters out it just didn't last you see if you really want to know if God is in what you're doing take your hand off the ball that you're rolling and see if he keeps it rolling if he doesn't perpetuate it then it's probably a good indicator that God's not in it it's one of the reasons why I'm glad to some degree I don't have a lot of resources I really depend on where God guide God provides because I have no independent sources to do that so I have to just say well God wherever you open up a door I'm going to assume that's where you're taking us and you look for that divine confirmation and there's lots of other scripture we can use to do that but moving on here you need to remain faithful we started faithful we nee remain faithful stand firm and the faithfulness I'm talking about here is once you begin to see that confirmation from the Lord rest assured you're going to be challenged somebody's going to try to discourage you and frustrate you no doubt about it stand firm even when others may doubt or even try to destroy your service to God it'll especially be people who are in an organized kind of an arrangement where they're going to be saying up excuse me I couldn't help but overhear you saying something about ministry what what tell me remind me again what seminary did you go to oh oh you didn't okay right yeah and and under an hour under whose authority are you doing this work as the diocese heard about you yet I mean I dare say hmm and they're looking to disqualify you I've had that in my life I'm an easy target I come with no credentials I'm a college dropout I didn't amount to anything really as far as the world is concerned so I'm an easy person for somebody to say ah why are you doing what you're doing because God has a great sense of humor that's why I fall into that really foolish really weak category stand firm you know Paul had to encourage Timothy let no one despise your youth but be an example to the believers in Word and conduct and love and spirit and faith in purity till i come give attention to reading to exhortation to doctrine do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership meditate on these things give yourself entirely to them that your progress with may be evident to all take heed to yourself and do the doctrine continue in them for in doing this you will say both yourself and those that hear you notice the type of encouragement he is giving Timothy you only encourage people in areas where they're being frustrated so somebody must've been saying and who are you Timothy you're kind of young for that aren't you and and and who are you and why are you doing that who's ordained you I'm glad I'm are deigned by no man oh I have pieces of paper that have come from organizations that I was formerly associated with but since I'm no longer associated with them I am proud to say that my ordination if if man asked for it is from the Lord I don't look to nor need the acceptance of anyone other than my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ remain faithful and remain faithful to that calling and you will be buffeted no question about it you will be buffeted number 10 you're now deep in the place of commitment but now is that real challenge try to be transparent wow we need to be reflect or not a collector a little phrase that I like you see there's two types of vessels you know we think of vessels I want to be a vessel of Honor and generally speaking we think of a vessel like a cup Lord fill me up but that's not the type of vessel I think that he's looking for I don't think he's looking for a vessel that's a cup I think he's looking for a vessel that's a conduit it's got a hole at both ends that stuff passes through us but we don't hold on anything when I was a kid we used to travel from Southern California where we were living up to my grandparents house in Northern California and I remember as a little kid it was a long drive and we'd get there very late at night sometimes very early in the morning and at my grandmother's house there on the coast of Northern California we would arrive I remember as a kid and we'd go into a little kitchen and there was this little tin cup and it would on a hook and you'd go in and get this incredibly cold water and so I'd open up the tap and get this thing and I that water was so cold to give you a headache it was so cold but you always taste the tin you ever have one of those little tin cups you drink that it's meant for it's a measuring cup for flour but I just for some reason weird I I love that little tin cup but it always tasted of what it was you see a real cup is one that leaves no taste you want to be a conduit through which the Ministry of God flows through and there's no element of you in it that's the real trick of being transparent you are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand it gives light to all who are in the house let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven how does that work it's very simple I used to remind my church all the time inside stand up on a Sunday morning I would say if there's anything that you've heard today that is of any value it's of God and anything else you've heard today that's worthless it's of me so you go away and decide who you've heard from today but whatever you've heard from me disregard you only want to hear that which God has flowed through me and it's truly him and we need to be that and you know what it is amazing how many people are interested in putting themselves into some kind of position of service within the church who don't want to be transparent that's why in my own experience I always look for people who are willing to just go be in the background nobody sees them nobody notices them and yet stuff gets done and those are the people that you want to promote even in just a natural level because they're people whose hearts are true to the Lord they're not there for something else and that comes on to number eleven avoid the pursuit of power not only do you want to be transparent you want to avoid this like the plague it is the sad cycle of dying denominations and it's repeated far too often I've seen people who've started in ministry they have a real pure heart God's really working through them they want to be invisible and all of a sudden the thing begins to grow and they just it's like they just change that downward flow of Ministers that are first focused on people then position then ultimately property power and then the perpetuation of whatever it is they're doing they want a dynasty rather than a distribution of the ministry their ultimate survival of the organization becomes more important than the service of the people and oh I don't know about you maybe I'm the only one in the room but I've certainly been around organizations like that but it's all about survival of the organization we need to preserve the name of the church or this has been a glorious ministry for so many years and I went on what it's all political and about power and property and people arguing with each other and I'm out of here man we need to follow the example of John the cousin of Jesus John was approached by his own disciples who at the height of his public ministry they came to and said hey some of our disciples are leaving us and going after you know your your younger cousin and John answered and said a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven you yourself bears witness of me that I said I am NOT the Christ but that I have been sent before him he who has the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled he must increase but I must decrease what a powerful admission from a man of whom Jesus said was the greatest of all the prophets and yet he's less than he is a member of the kingdom of heaven he had a real perspective I like this guy I like him he must increase and I must decrease there was a very good friend of mine who has a very popular church in Florida and he's a very good musician and and he's really developed a lot of music ministries there and a lot of great worship songs have come out of his church and he was telling me one time that one of the problems he deals with of course or you get these talented people and they get up and they write these songs and they play these musics and people you know they get a sense of popularity a little bit of pop culture begins to find its way into the church and I asked him so how do you deal with that he says very simple he says uh he says as soon as I feel that somebody is maybe getting to that point just prior to when I think that is I asked them to step down and it always shocks them I said what do you do then he says I just say you know what you've done such a great job I want to put you on furlough for six months but during that time I'd like you to come and participate in the fellowship and just be a worshipper sitting out there and not up on stage and it goes and I watch and next Sunday if they don't show up they're off the permanently he says they don't realize I'm just testing them I'm saying are you willing to stand down there and lift your heart to the Lord or do you need to be up here under the lights it's a great example we have these confessions of Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 9 at the height of his ministry says I am the least of the Apostles who am not worthy to be called an apostle now that's a humble man but at the end of the ministry he says this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I end the chief that's what 30 years of ministry will do to you you see the longer you serve under the real unction and power of the Holy Spirit the more and more you should know that it's not you the more and more you should understand that God truly is using the foolish things of the world to confound the wise there should be more humility over time not less sadly and I speak general terms here I'm not trying to get myself in even further trouble but I have seen far too often individuals who the longer they are in the way they remain in the way of the glory that belongs to Jesus you see what we really need to understand is that the longer you're there the more you need to understand what a mystery it is that God knowing everything past president future concerning you would not only think of you but love you not only love you but redeem you unto himself it's a mystery that will take eternity for us to give our Thanksgiving and so when we consider serving how dare we consider anything that he does in and through our life as something as a result of something we've done we should be nothing more than then then moistened dirt on the potter's wheel and if we're shaped to anything we're shaped by his hands not ours and if we produce anything it's not because we've done anything I'm a clay pot in fact many people think I'm a crackpot but I'm ok with that because the more you're in this the more you understand if you approach it with the right heart God is the one who will put you there and he'll sustain you there number 12 give until it's gone give until it's gone Israel was given this challenge the Prophet Malachi or the Italian prophet Milwaukee said in chapter 3 verse 10 bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and try me now in this says the Lord of Hosts if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessings that there will be no not enough room to receive it now for the nation of Israel they understood that they were asked to give 10% of what they owned for God to make the 90% go more than the hundred percent that was the deal for the nation of Israel you and I have a different deal our deal is to give a hundred percent and see what God does with that one thing when you start to really realize how earnest God can be on your behalf is you cannot outgive him I'm not talking about finances in and of itself here I'm talking about the whole of who you are you know you're familiar with the story of the Widow's mite Jesus sitting there watching and observing how people gave through an offering box outside the temple and it says and of the Pharisees and the scribes and they gave of their excess but she gave all that she had and of course we make a big deal about that and it's a bit is a big deal what you don't recognize is what happened to her afterwards you ever wonder that I wonder because there's many instances where people have given everything and God is the one who is and obligated to then provide the daily bread the manna whatever it is you'll never experience manna until you're in the wilderness my friend the nation of Israel received manna after they had crossed the Red Sea they had traveled past the twelve wells and they went into the the wilderness of ref Adam the valley of death and it was there that that man it was given you'll never experience manna until you're at a place where you can't provide for yourself so give until it's gone and see how long God sustains it Paul's example is given to Timothy as he is ready to end his public ministry he says I am ray I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight I finished the race I've kept the faith Julie drink offering was the priest would take a measure of wine as the sacrifice was there on the brazen altar and he would pour it on the coals do you know how long that drink lasted on the coals a moment it's over he summarized his whole ministry life and says I'm ready to be poured out to the uttermost if it does nothing other than to make a an aroma of trust and sacrifice to my god whatever that is you don't look for a tomorrow there is no plan B just give until God stops giving when you see yourself as a conduit when it stops flowing in it can't go out there you go okay god what would you let me do now but all too often we're like these little goblets oh I've only got so much in there here's a little bit for you oh here's a little bit for you like I keep burnt some for myself no poke a hole in the bottom of it and get on with it will ya see what God can do the world is yet to see what can happen when somebody really gives them their life to God really I'm serious I have my own example I want to talk about just in closing in 1961 I received a plaque I want a little contest at a Christian camp I went to I won't tell you how old I was but I was very young and the plaque simply said this only one life to will soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last that has impacted my life and remains on my desk everywhere I go because for me it summarizes the sense of the fact that our life is but a vapor is your vapor a sweet-smelling aroma poured out on the altar of God or is it the vapor of the stench of the things you can't take with you rotting may it be something that brings glory to God let's close with prayer Lord we are so grateful that you want to use us so thankful Lord that we can depend that your Holy Spirit will call us and equip us Lord that you've placed us in a world where there's no shortage of work to be done and we would pray Lord that by your Holy Spirit you'd guide and direct everyone here into not only an understanding of what you're calling them to but Lord an understanding of how to achieve that what you're calling them to so father we are grateful for your goodness and thankful Lord that we can wholly devote our life to you without reservation and not be concerned about anything that our fleshly mind would would be bothered by Lord knowing that we can distrust in you and so father we do just give you our lives and our futures in the name of Jesus Christ amen

Channel: Koinonia House

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Keywords: the, acts, of, holy, spirit, apostles, jesus, christ, chuck, missler, koinonia, house, khouse, institute

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Length: 76min 39sec (4599 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 10 2017