The Calling - Part 3 Romans12:5-15 5-26-13

Sermon 5-26-13 Romans 12:5-15 the calling part 3

Veterans please stand and be recognized.

⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body,^(J) and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts,^(K) according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying,^(L) then prophesy in accordance with your^[a] faith;^{(M) 7} if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;^{(N) 8} if it is to encourage, then give encouragement;^(O) if it is giving, then give generously;^(P) if it is to lead,^[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. ⁹ Love must be sincere.^(Q) Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.^{(R) 10} Be devoted to one another in love.^(S) Honor one another above yourselves.^{(T) 11} Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor,^(U) serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope,^(V) patient in affliction,^(W) faithful in prayer.^{(X) 13} Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.^(Y) Practice hospitality.^{(Z) 14} Bless those who persecute you;^(AA) bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.^(AB)

Sermon series that we are in

Pt 1…leaving your nets

Pt 2 .. called toward christ.  Called to live as he lived.

Showing empathy, feeding people, extending grace

Today Pt 3, what you can specifically do

Part 1 - Your call to every person……..

We talk about  this a lot

That is because it is the core of the Christian life

It is no longer enough to believe and sit

It is no longer enough to insist that we are right and have the special knowledge

Me must learn  to live missionally

On a mission from  God

Daily living it out.  In your home, in your place of work.

Lets talk about the workplace

If you are a Christian, you don’t have a secular job

Questions to God’s people:

How many of you start your work week and are already thinking about Friday and the five days of your work week behind you?

How many of you, now retired, couldn’t wait until that final day of work was over and your “retirement” could begin?

- versus -

How many of you wake each week and can’t wait to use the gift you have a passion to care about God’s people

Stats: [what is the source?]

Unhappiness on the job affects ¼ of the American work force

¼ of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives

7 out of 10 people are neither motivated nor competent to perform the basics of their job

43% of employees feel anger toward their employers often or very often as a result of feeling overworked

70% of employees go to work without much enthusiasm or passion – lacking the “have a super-sparklee day” passion

How do these statistics change when you are doing what God intended for you to do and performing those tasks to His glory and not our own?

We have divided the world into the sacred and the secular.

Does God love the redwoods and hate the badlands?

Does god love the grand canyon but hate Siberia

Or is all of it our fathers world.

Does jeff have a spiritual job because he is a pastor

So god loves the church but hates sprint?  The ford plant?

Isn’t all of this our father’s world?

Jesus didn’t have a spiritual life and a secular life

Imagine asking jesus, how is your spiritual life?

What?

Everything is spiritual

Everywhere you go grace can flow thru u

And that includes the work place

Part 2 - Ministry calling in the local church…….

How do you pick your specific thing?

Hitting that “Sweet Spot” in your life!  Golf, Tennis, Baseball – it just feels perfect and you can’t wait to do it again – like when you use your gift from God to care for someone in his name

What drives your passion?

If you could get paid to do what you love…what would that be?

Story:  the holy land omelet makers in Tiberius

The book – Fish!

What were your favorite things to do as a child?

Did you spend your time reading books…

Or playing a sport…

Or drawing pictures…

Or playing games…

What keeps me awake when I should be falling asleep at night?

A person…

A task…

An event…

A thought needing to be expressed…

The answer will expose what drives you, what makes you cry, and what lingers in your mind when the world goes dark.

What wakes us up when we should still be sleeping in the morning?

A person or people…

Your work…Heaven’s calendar has seven Sundays a week!

A specific task you can’t wait to get started on…

An event you’ve been waiting for…

A statement you feel led to deliver…

A belief that God wants to use you

The answer will uncover what you value, what you’re committed to and what excites YOU!

Characteristics that God blesses us with to take up His calling: 

Maybe you have an  uncanny ease with numbers

Maybe you have an  quenchless curiosity about chemistry

Maybe you look at a blueprint and drool

Maybe you have  A mind that understands quantum physics

Maybe the Colors at the Home Depot paint department excite you

Maybe Music sets you on high

Today I want to share with you some specific needs in our church right now

You might be called to help with a mission through our church:

1)   We have a new community garden this year.  Help is needed to tend the garden, and then pick the produce, clean it, and bag it for families in need in our community. 

2)   Our church is adopting a village in Nicaragua.  There will be many opportunities to serve both here and in Nicaragua.

3)   You can make the difference in the life of a child by serving as a mentor or book buddy at Spofford Children’s Home.

4)   Hillcrest Transitional Housing is always in need of budget counselors for the residents living there.  They also have a thrift store which needs helping hands.

5)   Our annual Back to School Drive is coming up.  Hundreds of kids around the city need tennis shoes, clothes, and school supplies.  You can help with this effort.

6)   During the school year, our church provides BackSnacks each weekend to over 100 children.  Help is needed to bag the food and deliver to the schools each week.

When we first moved into this building there was so much to do…..

We used to have Sundays where the entire sermon was about ways that you can help.  What you might be called to.  at the end of the sermon, you could go to any of the 4 corners and sign up

Hospitality team.  Reading to we care children, repair and paint crew, landscape team.

There are opportunities to work with people.  Opportunities to work with plants. Opportunities to build things

Pick up the pamphlet at the info desk.  Go online and search.  There are literally hundreds of things that you can do.  take a look.  See what speaks to you

Part 3 - Vocational calling..

Finally are you sensing a call to……….vocational calling

Pastor, missionary, chaplain etc

This is where I need you to talk about the calling that you felt……

This is where I am going to talk about the time that I quit ministry….

Sometimes people feel a calling to this.  You are gripped.

It doesn’t go away

Romans 11:29

The gifts and calling of God are without repentance KJV

²⁹ for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. NIV

God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded- the msg

Someone here -you may have this aching feeling. 

Fan the flames.  Stir up the gift.

Pray about it

Talk to God

Visit with one of our pastors.

Conclusion

Connecting to your call is Finding the best you

Finding purpose.  Usefulness.  Peace.

The promised land.  For this I was created.

Reflecting on this great line, author and pastor John Ortberg says, “This sense of having been called — the worthiness of it, the glorious goodness of a life lived beyond an individual’s agenda — is a precious thing. As we locate the warm embers of God’s calling inside ourselves, we must faithfully fan those flames. God desires for a sense of mission to burn within us, driving us forward in the perilous journey we call life.

The holy spirit leads you outside of your comfort zone into daring places for God.

Let us leave our nets  Let us lean into jesus.  Let us follow the leading

The Call Part 2 John 14:12 5-19-13

Sermon 5-19-13 the call, pt 2 John 14:12x

¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Sermon series – the call

Recap of last week:

Our “Call” is our unique way of loving God and loving others.

And scripture is full of great call stories. 

Men and women whose lives were interrupted by this great command to

love God and love others.

All are called

Called to leave nets

Come and follow Jesus

Painful discussion

Someone told me that I inflicted pain on them

I said, well tell me about that.

They described a sense that I made them uncomfortable in their faith

I was comfortable, had it in the bag.  Now they are uncomfortable. Unsettled.

 Please help me be settled again.

Sorry to inflict pain, glad if you feel unsettled sometimes.

Should we ever relax and retire?  Should we ever arrive?

No, there is a pursuit

Dust of the rabbi

We want to control Jesus’ outlook calendar……

Pursuit of Christ should cause us to be unsettled from time to time.

In calling the disciples, Jesus is saying, you can do what I do, you can follow my way, you can become like me, you can follow me.

So we heard the invitation, “Come and Follow me”

Called away from nets and Called toward Jesus

In laying down the nets the disciples were able to experience the Way Jesus represents.

What is that Way?

What is the life that we follow after

What are we called towards?

Years ago, my parents went thru a very painful time…….

Read the bible, pray, and give 10%.

All of these things are good, but it isn’t enough.

Its almost not the point. 

When Jesus says, greater things, he is saying you can do this.

You can live as I am living, and do the things that I am doing

Not that doctrine is not important, it is, but the main point of Christianity is out there

It is how we live every day

It is how we carry the message

So What did Jesus do

Jesus framed his Way by reciting Isaiah (Luke 4:14-21)

Isaiah 61

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵ He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,  because he has anointed me  to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”^[f]

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

What did he do?

He brought good news to the poor

He brought freedom to the prisoner

He brought sight for the blind – physically and spiritually blind

He set the oppressed free

He proclaimed the year of the Lords favor

What does he do?

We are called towards him.  Called to do what he did

Not to sit and watch from a far

Christianity is not a spectator sport

Do you wonder what you are called to…here’s a start….

He raises the dead

          We probably are not going to be able to do that

          But have you ever known someone who was dead inside?

He cried w mary and Martha – he showed empathy

          You can do this

He opposes evil and casts it out

          You can do this

He feeds people

          You can do this

He embraced lepers

          You can do this

He talked about his faith.  Nicodemus. Woman at well

          You can do this

He did not judge people, in fact He challenges empty religion

          You can do this

He welcomed children

          You can do this

He forgives

          You can do this

He offers hope

          You can do this

He meets people where they are

          You can do this

He extends grace

          You can do this

He proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor.

Did we let that phrase slip by?

To a world that had been told that they were not good enough, Jesus proclaims Gods favor is upon them

Wow is there a need for that message today

To a nation of people who have been told that they are not good enough

To Christian people who have been told that they are not good enough

Jesus proclaims the year of the lords favor.

The time of judgment is over, now it is time to love and embrace and to be loved and embraced.

And with the disciples he mentors and deploys them

Following Jesus is like being an apprentice [electrician, plumber, mason]

Model of Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship looks like:: (Applebee’s training was like this)

I do                                You watch                              We talk

I do                                You help                                 We talk

You do                          I help                                                We talk

You do                          I watch                                    We talk

The cycle starts over and you are now the mentor

You do                          Someone else watches        You talk

This is training.  This is practice.  This is more than what many of us have been exposed to.

          Read Bible.  Go to church.  Offer 10%.   Be nice.

Following Jesus is more than follow the rules.

Jesus is inviting the disciples to a new life.

“It is time that we stop thinking of Christianity primarily as a way of believing, and instead begin to think of it as believing in a way”

The best part?

And..Jesus says we can do it.  That he’s with us.  That all the stuff we see him doing, we can do and do even more.

¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  John 14:12

Greater…more.  The mission is expanding. 

One man àtwelve Disciples àhundreds à thousands à us

We are Called to leave our nets
Called to learn the Way- called to follow.

You can do it.

The Call Part 1 Matthew 4:18-22 5-12-2103

Sermon 5-12-13  the call, pt 1  Matthew 4:18-22 

¹⁸ As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” ²⁰ At once they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Its mother’s day.  We celebrate you. 

Also understand that it can be a difficult day for many

          Not a mother, lost a child, difficulty with mother

But we celebrate today as we are able

Good fit for today because there is a calling involved. 

A decision to change your life for a purpose.

From the beginning of time, humans have asked, “What is life?  What’s the point?  What am I supposed to be do?” 

as Rick Warren states it, “What On Earth Am I Here For?”

The response is the easiest and the hardest thing for us to do:

Matthew 22:37-39

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b]

Today we begin talking about this calling. It is not an easy conversation.

Our “Call” is our unique way of loving God and loving others.

And scripture is full of great call stories.  Men and women whose lives were interrupted by this great command to love God and love others.

Why so many call stories in scripture?

Because All are called

God’s initiative – God starts it

          God doesn’t need us, but chooses to work with and through us

         Body of Christ- we are

         Gifts of the Spirit- we have

Essentially, choosing to be a Christian is accepting a call

To lay down your nets

To take up your cross

                                          

 It is done by God’s grace

         God doesn’t wait for or demand perfection,

but accepts our brokenness and

gives us          what we need for the moment (daily bread);

He uses broken cisterns

Wounded healers

Paul was a murderer.  Noah a drunk.  Abraham a liar.David an adulterer

Yes, They weren’t good enough

1 Samuel 3 – Samuel and eli did not have a clue that it was his voice.

Samuel didn’t know God, or his word. He didn’t grow up with it, and he certainly was not ‘churched. Many are tempted to ignore my call for those exact reasons

The same circumstances were true of Jesus asking the disciples to follow him…they were in a trade and old enough that they’d never passed a rabbi’s ‘tests’ to follow a rabbi, yet Jesus says, come on guys, let’s go. Follow me, I don’t care…and look what they did!

 God works with the willing.

(bumper sticker:  God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.”)

Peter was an unlikely first round draft choice

                                Explore fishermen and their role in society            

                                              

God’s invites us to go

                     Go…I’ll show you Abraham, (Genesis 12:1)

                     I know the plans I have for you (Jer 29:11)

                  Come follow me (Matthew 4:18-22)

We Have a choice = stay or go

          Doesn’t force

             Doesn’t demand

               Peter (and others) gets to choose

           We too are invited.

Saying “yes” = Leaving our nets

          Doesn’t necessarily mean go to Africa 

Means leaving Our comfort, our familiarity, our pleasure

Our business, our excuses.  

          The commitments that we made before we were thinking of God

Even good pursuits that prevent us from being free to follow 

jobs.  Vacations.  Hobbies.  Activities.  Over- scheduled lives

In past discussions about calling we have spoken of purpose

Purpose – love the lord your god with all your heart……..

If there is a deeper Call

Usually think that we are called to something but first we must be

Called out from away from something

·        Saul quit his job

·        David gave up sheep

·        Samuel went to live in the temple

·        Mary gave up her dreams for her life

·        Israelites left egypt

·        Peter left his nets

The process of call and leaving your nets Begins with a conversation

Its a really  painful conversation.

Do we even want to have the discussion

Like to protect you from it- but you are adults,

lets have an adult conversation

Do you think most Christians are open to this discussion?

Wouldn’t we prefer to dabble in Christianity?

What happens when  we are called to something, but not away from something

When we don’t leave ourselves to enjoin a new thing

·        The married couple whose lives are still about them

·        The mother who will not devote herself to child

·        The minister who thinks its still about him

·        The church that gets stuck in the pew

·        Or the Christian who gives God his bit and moves on

I cant count the number of people that I know that tell me about a call that they had when they were 22 or 25, and they let it go, but it never let them go……..

To find your call, you must be willing to leave life as you know it

In one form or another to find your purpose

There is a story that I like to tell -the little pony grows up

Once upon a time a pony played in the pasture with his friends.  He laughed and hopped and galloped around.  He ate and drank whenever he wanted to.  He took naps whenever he wanted to.  He just pretty much did whatever he pleased.  Ahh, the life of a pony!

As the pony grew up, he began to notice that all of the adult horses left the pasture in the morning and were hitched up to wagons.  They were gone all day, and always came back home tired.  The pony wondered what that was all about.

One day, the farmer came for the pony.  He put a rope around his neck and led him to a corral.  There, the farmer forced a metal bit into the pony’s mouth and began to teach him the ways of the big horses.  The pony would learn later that this process was called “breaking.”  It was aptly named because the experience was not very pleasant for the pony.

But the Farmer knew that the pony had a purpose that God had created him for.  Difficult as the breaking process was, the farmer stayed with it, because he loved the pony and wanted him to find the joy in life.  Soon, the pony was a young horse.  He was leaving the pasture every morning, pulling wagons to town and plows through the field.  On his way through the farm he would often look back at the young ponies playing in the pasture.  He would smile - he knew what was in store for them. 

If we are going to find our purpose, we must leave the pasture and be under the submission of the master.

The breaking is no fun, but it sets the stage for what is to come

So many pictures of this in scripture …

Luke 9 ⁵⁷ As they were walking along the road,^(BJ) a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”⁵⁸ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man^(BK) has no place to lay his head.”⁵⁹ He said to another man, “Follow me.”^(BL)

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”^(BM)61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”^(BN)62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Mark 10 ²⁸ Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”^(Z)29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰ will fail to receive a hundred times as much^(AA) in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come^(AB) eternal life.

Matthew 10

³⁷ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.^{(AO) 38} Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.^{(AP) 39} Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.^(AQ)

What have we let go of for the sake of Christ?

What have we left to follow him?

Cheap grace, often thought of as being forgiven but acting however you want to.

[Accept forgiveness but still plays cards or ______]

What if cheap grace is accepting the story, but not sacrificing to be a part of it.

Examples of ways that some have left their nets

People that rearranged their lives to take a different job

People that spend nights and weekends working on projects for children

Food prepared for the homeless

Stephen ministers giving their time

Examples around our church all the time

Leaving our nets is not just a sacrifice.  There is also joy

                Escape from boredom

                Escape from mediocrity

                Escape from self

                Escape from all that separates us from God

The journey begins with a discussion

Jesus starts……lay down your nets and follow me.

What will our response be?

Next week the discussion continues