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

Inquiring Minds - Romans 12:1-2 5-4-13

Sermon 5-4-13 inquiring minds – questions about life death and everything in between

Romans 12:1-2     A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

How I heard this as a youth

How the bishop explains it…..that our minds would be opened, renewed, paradigm shift

Don’t have to check your brain at the door.

Invitation to live in the now, many questions about eternity, live in the now.

should I feel guilty about having so much in a world where so many have so little.

Not guilty, but responsible

Rich man and lazarus luke 16

Parable of the talents mt 25 -  5,2,1 talent or bag of gold

Why do bad things

If God is perfect, why/how did He create a world with so many imperfections? Shouldn't a perfect being be able to create perfect things?

Why do bad things happen to good people?  Someone described a colleague as an evangelical atheist, who uses bad things happening to good people as why God does not exist.  

Why did Job have to suffer so much.

Harold Kushner’s book when bad things happen to good people

·         job 13:15 ¹⁵ Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely^[a] defend my ways to his face.

·        Demello story

·         mt 5:45 ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[i] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

·        It’s the best of all worlds….we love and our choice matters

Praying for the dead

Give thanks for the dead

Pray for the living

Time in the old testament

I'm often puzzled with the measurement of "time" in the Bible and current "time"---Did Sarah really get pregnant when she was 90?? Is that our years? People in Genesis before Noah "lived for hundreds of years", Adam was 900+, Noah was 900+, Abraham 175?? How do I explain the concepts of time and age

Death dying heaven eternal life

I am dealing with frail, elderly parents right now, say something about dying, death and eternal life.

will  I continue to be tempted in heaven – and if so, does that entail a perpetual state of being forgiven?  it’s very difficult for me envision ever becoming “perfect.”  It’s just hard for me to imagine all these less-than-Christian thoughts being completely erased from my hard drive…so I ask….will I know longer be tempted in heaven?

To cross over is a great mystery.

From which on one ever comes back to discuss with us.

Spiritual existence.  We will be like the angels

Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord- MT 25

6. What will Heaven be like?
(Will we have physical bodies? what will we do?) will there be golden streets

we will live in the real spirit, in the presence of God. The thought of this and the understanding of this is beyond our comprehension.

1Corinthians 2:9 "No eye has ever seen, nor ear heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him".

Revelation 21:4 ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’^[a] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Does the Bible say anything about ages in heaven?  If a child dies on earth, do they stay a child in heaven?  Always wondered about this and if the Bible addresses it at all. 

5. Do dogs go to Heaven?
Isaiah 11:6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling^[a] together; and a little child will lead them.

Why does the Bible, specifically the New Testament, seem to suggest that when we die, physically as a believer, we will not get to be in heaven with Jesus until he makes His second coming?  1 Cor. 15:1-58 and 1 Thess. 4:15-17.  My understanding is that when a Christian passes away, their spirit instantly enters heaven and their shell of a body stays behind. 

To be absent from the body is to be present with the lord 2 cor 5:8

4. What would be the point of this life if what we learned here had not value in the spiritual after life?

I do think that we grow and change in this life. When we arrive in heaven, it should feel like home. [the renewing of the mind]

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Maybe there are different levels….different  things that happen to us depending on how we lived this life....

2 Corninthians 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body O do not know - God knows.

Of course there is purpose to our learning, growing and living here.

Jews in heaven?

I know some awesome Jews.  They do not believe Jesus was the Messiah.  It’s not that they need to be educated.  They have been informed and choose to believe differently.  Yet these are good people who believe in God and do good things for their fellow man. I have a hard time believing that a loving and graceful God would turn His back on them.

Mat 8:11 ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Luk 13:28

Why did Jesus say on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Bearing our sin

Quoting psalm 22

Mystery of God

My historic sense of self says there was a man named Jesus who claimed to be the son of God, performed miracles, was crucified and rose from the dead.  It's documented and I believe it; however, my scientific sense asks about God.  We are but small insignificant specks on a very small planet in a huge universe. 

At any given time thousands of people pray to God and He hears -- How? 

Through the years various Bible studies have expressed that when we pray the Holy Spirit groans for us and God hears.  If that's so, how does He make sense of all the groaning?  I think part of my problem is that I envision God as a giant of a man (way out in space somewhere.

Sometimes I feel very "in tune" while other times I feel very adrift.  Just because I think I'm following God's will for me, doesn't always mean I am.  I've misread so many signs and nudges throughout my lifetime, and it makes me sad. 

How can some people have such strong convictions about God all the time?

   I wish I could quit questioning and just go with it, but I can't. 

Should I have myself committed? :-)

Welcome to the human race

Some folks want a church where every question is answered. 

I tend to believe if you are around someone that knows it all, run as fast as you can

In my faith we have some answers and some handles

And we get to lean on the mystery of God

…..let us all lean into the mystery of God

9. Are we all smeared (sinners by nature) or does God love all of us unconditionally?
Both.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24

Sin is about selfishness. This just means that we are all selfish by nature. Babies come out totally self-consumed. It is the human way.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. John 3:16-17

6. What does it mean to live a holy life in this world?
but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Romans6:22

To have in your heart a passion, a desire to serve God and his people
It is a gift from God, you do not earn it. By the sacrifice of Jesus, our hearts are changed.

Not perfect, but growing in our desire for God.

Less of me, more of him

8. What do you do when your dreams for your life and your job don't come true?
Are our expectations too high?

5Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. 6in all you ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 7Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. Proverbs3:5-7

conclusion

. I have been hurt by others in Bible studies who do not respect my opinion. When reading and interpreting the Bible, do I accept what the majority believe or do I trust my own opinion?

There is a blessing in the wisdom of others...

tradition holds the opinion of Wesley and Luther. Consider their thoughts.

the problem is that others hurt you.

Open your heart and mind to new perspectives………

May our minds be constantly renewed

The Gifts and Calling of God are Without Repentance Romans

The Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance Romans 11:29

Annual Conference
Covenant of ministers
Gal at Annual Conference who retired - Chrystal Wicks

The concept of the covenant
Greater and lesser powers
Abraham
Jonah
Offer to all through Jesus Christ
You are a member of the covenant

What are you offered through the covenant?
What are we called to do?
You may not feel that you are doing a very good job representing God
You are still called

When we think it is over, God is still working

What are we called to do?
[my dogs bigger at annual conference]
I don't care about hoe many are in worship
I don't care how many softball teams we have
I don't care how big this group or that group is
I want to know that the message is getting thru
I want to know that we are hearing his voice
I want to know that the blind are finding sight
The lost are finding their way
That husbands and wives are treating each other with love
I want to know that Christ is alive in your heart.

It is time for us to move forward, it is time for us to solve problems
What is God calling you to do
We need some to paint/landscape/start new programs
Help with the youth

The gifts and calling of God are without repentance
God never gives up
He keeps knocking, asking, seeking
Hear his voice, answer the call, be the one.

You Are Worth Loving -- March 8, 2009-Romans 8:31-39

Romans 8:31-39
31What then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32Hw who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any change against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condems? Christ, Jesus, who died-more than than, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution of famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we have death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the furute, nor any powers 39niether height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Intro
Lent 40 days before Easter
40 days to think about a loving God
last week-life is a gift from God, it is worth loving
today-you. are worth loving

There is no greater feeling in the world, than to be loved
No greater rejestion than not to be loved
We have a sense of will bring when we feel loved
We are filled with discomfort and pain when we feel unloved

Yet we get stuck a little when we think of us being worth loving
We are not sure what that means...it sounds a little egotistical
We see some people are totally stuck on themselves
We have had humility masking as self desprciation pounded in to us

I am not suggesting that you get stuck on yourself
I am not suggesting today that you live a selfish life

What I am suggesting is that God says that you are worht loving
And the greates hinderance to that bedcoming a reality, is you

Lets look at some facts
You are the creation of God
God said it is good Genesis 1
31God saw all that hehad made and it was very good.

You are the crowning achievement of creation
That is why God sent a savior
God so loved the world, John 3:16

How many people would it take for God to send Jesus
1,000? 1 million? or 1?

You are worht Jesus suffering and dying for you
Did he only do that for other people, no, all of this, for you

As a Christian, there is ony one conclusion to come to
God loves you and you are worth loving.

Loving yourself, this is easier said than done
Who will condem us?
Someone makes a joke and we are hurt
Someone implies that we did something wrong and it all comes back
The little voice that says, you are a bad guy

At the core of who we are is us
We want God to be at the center, but we are wired, "us"

Christians are called to love God and love others in the same manner that we love ourselves-it is like there is a progressive chain
God neighbor self...seof neighbor God
8If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anone who ies not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love Godm whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1John 4:20

Can we love others if we don't love ourselves? Do we know what love is if we don't see that we are worth loving?

Are you having trouble with this?
A am
There are too many voices that tell me that I am not woth loving

Where do these voices come from?
Many parents, are trying to get our attention when we are young
they don't mean to make a life imprint, but they do.
By what they say and how they say it.
Pay attention. For crying out load Jeff-shame on you
We hear it for so long during our formative years, then suddenly we are adults and it takes us years to undestand what it is. then we have to start trying to combat it.

The church can also leave a crushing imprint
A Gallup poll says 80% say they believe, 40% attend somewhat...
What about the 40%
the church was just trying to keep us on track, but it has crushed them

Some days 15 people may say they love me, i still ony hear the one voice in the back of my head. You are a bad person

what if I told you that there are charges brought against you. There's a child of God that you've treated poorly
Some one that Jesus loves, you have trashed
i invite you to see that person as Jesus sees them
Lovely, forgive, free
There is a follower of Christ that you have been down on. you have harped on them for years and you have let their parents harp on them. You have stood idly by while their soul was crushed and they became discouraged.

Who is the follower of Christ that you helped crush? Yourself....

If God is for you, who can be against you?
You can....
You can so more damamge to yourself.....

Two farmers were having a long bitter feud over a fince line. The quarrel became more and more vitriolic until finally, under cover of darkness, one farmer went to the other's well and dropped bags of salt into it to contaminate it. He thought he had really showe his opponent who was in charge until a few days later when he lifted water out of his own well and discovered it had a salty taste; both farmers wells shared a common underground water table.

You need to treat yourself with a little more honor
I want to honor God creation
That includes you and me

I wonder if we are gdoing better with our children...
I asked one ht eother day...what are the voices that they hear...

this is about power...who you give power to, what you listen to
We are listening to the wrong voices

When we listen to others, many of the voices say that we aren't worth loving
When we listed to God, he says it, nothing can separate you from his love

i used to hear this and think...mothing can separate us from the love of God excep ourselves
It's liek we are our own worst enemy

But I have come to realize tha tyour belief that you are not loved does not make you unloved
Just because we think that God doesn't love us, dosen't mean he doesn't
When we listen to the wrong voices, we con't change a thing. God still loves us

Ahh the thief on the corss. What was he thinging...
I am unworthy, what was god thinking? This ismy child, this is my son

You are valuable to God---how much does God love you?
this much....Jesus spread our his arms and died. For you.

In John 13 jesus was going to wash the disciples feet
John 13 - 8"No" said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet'> Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have not part with me". 9"then Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"

the love of God is held out to us from a cross and we give it to everyone but ourselves
Peter...you will never wash my feet...
If I don't wash your feet, you have no part of me.

The beginning of the story of salvation is not our sin, it is the love of God reaching, caring, wooing, wanting....you

Today Jesus is saying, O Love you. I care for you, I gave myself for you, receive my sacrifice...my body, my blood, broken for you.

38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not any poers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.