Sermon Central
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What Is Your Calling?
Contributed by Ajai Prakash on Mar 10, 2016 (message contributor)
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1. What Is Your Calling? (Part 3)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
We also receive our call at just the right time. How often do we rush into something and end up failing because we ran ahead of God? How many times have we decided to go in a different direction because we did not have the patience to wait for him?
Opening Illustration: The struggle I had with my personal calling - • I knew I had a call upon my life since childhood but was running from it because I saw that there was nothing lucrative in it for me or my family … it meant the cross and suffering … I wasn’t ...read more
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2. What Is Your Calling? (Part 1)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
If you don’t consistently spend time alone with God in His Word and in prayer, you don’t have a walk with God! If you don’t have a walk with God, you will not be able to stand alone as Noah did. You will be more conformed to this evil world than you ...
Opening Illustration: According to an African fable, four fingers and a thumb lived together on a hand. They were inseparable friends. One day, they noticed a gold ring lying next to them and conspired to take it. The thumb said it would be wrong to steal the ring, but the four fingers called him a ...read more
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3. What Is Your Calling? (Part 12)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
Knowing the general call of a believer, we must also focus on our specific calling. Spending much time in prayer, worship and meditation on God’s Word, will make it clearer. Let the body of Christ assist you in that call and help position you ...
Opening Illustration: God has used this book to cause the conversion of some of the most significant figures in church history. Saint Augustine, the greatest theologian of the first 1000 years of Chris-tian history, was converted while reading the 13th chapter of Romans. Martin Luther recovered the ...read more
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4. What Is Your Calling? (Part 2)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
Are you going to take the effort to listen to God? How has your faith panned out for God? Will you step out even when God tests your faith by making the most difficult sacrifices in your life? Do you obey God at every level?
Opening Illustration: Narrate the story of our call to the USA as missionaries. Introduction: The Lord's call for Abram to journey to the Promised Land is often equated with a call to missionary service. For the missionary, there is a sense where God has called them from the ease and security of ...read more
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5. What Is Your Calling? (Part 4)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
"There is no success without sacrifice. If you succeed without sacrifice it is because someone has suffered before you. If you sacrifice without success it is because someone will succeed after." (Adoniram Judson)
Opening Illustration: Henri Nouwen was also a person whose heart was to serve the Lord. And as a world-renown Catholic educator and teacher he had a great deal of success in encouraging others in their faith. Yet one day, God asked him to leave that and become a house parent in the Le Arche ...read more
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6. What Is Your Calling? (Part 5)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
Do you really have God’s call upon your life? If so, what has He disclosed to you? What are you doing about it? Have you consulted your mentor or pastor about it? Are you completely captivated by God?
Opening Illustration: Narrative of how my call came about. Introduction: In the focus text, Samuel lives in a precarious time when “the word of the LORD was rare” (verse 1). This is a continuation of the problem at the end of book of Judges where “all the people did what was ...read more
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7. What Is Your Calling? (Part 6)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
Has God really called you? Then where is that separation? Where is your heart? What is it captivated by? Is the presence of the Holy Spirit evident in your life? This is not something you can determine or speak for yourself. This the church will testify.
Opening Illustration: A certain king needed a faithful servant and had to choose between two candidates for the office. He took both at fixed wages and told them to fill a basket with water from a nearby well, saying that he would come in the evening to inspect their work. After dumping one or ...read more
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8. What Is Your Calling? (Part 7)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
The call of God has been upon our life much before even we could comprehend our left hand from the right. That is the time when God had people in place who would take care to raise us up. How has your call played out? Do you see yourself facilitating ...
Opening Illustration: A friend of mine by the name of Joseph who I met while teaching at a Catholic school. At that time he was climbing up the corporate ladder of the Catholic church which was grooming and raising him up to be a father and possibly a bishop or cardinal in the future. In our free ...read more
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9. What Is Your Calling? (Part 8)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
Do we continue in a lifestyle if sin? Is our life filled with any form of violence? Do we yearn and live our life based on corrupted wisdom? What sort of worship we bring before God? Is pride evident in our lives?
Opening Illustration: Narrative of Krupy who used to be our worship leader in the Middle East. As soon as pride and corrupted wisdom entered his heart, God eliminated him from ministry and his calling was stunted. Introduction: The devil was at one time a righteous angel! Therefore, he, too, is ...read more
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10. What Is Your Calling? (Part 9)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
Are we at that place where we know our calling explicitly? Have we positioned ourselves for God’s plan to play out? God’s favor will bring upon you trials and test your faith and endurance. Are you ready?
Opening Illustration: Sundar’s call resembles that of Paul who had God’s favor. He was raised in the Sikh religion in India. All Sikhs have the same last name, "Singh", which means "lion." When Sundar received Christ at age 16, his Father poisoned him, but Sundar didn't die. After ...read more
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11. What Is Your Calling? (Part 10)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
The life of our Lord is a constant testimony to His desire to please the Father, more than anyone else. Thus, His actions and His words are always governed by the will of the Father. Think about what did Christ’s calling mean? THE CROSS ... Are you ready?
Opening Illustration: A missionary couple who had been gone from the US for years on end were finally coming home. They had faithfully served God and ministered among the poor, and had seen many lives brought into the kingdom of God. When they got off the airplane, there was a crowd of people ...read more
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12. What Is Your Calling? (Part 11)
Contributed on Mar 10, 2016
Now with the media tracking you and keeping you accountable, the way you live out your life daily will send a message to others who you really are and what is your calling. This should not stop you to live out God’s call.
Opening Illustration: Jesus has become popular again. His name pops up in the news all the time. In 2004 Mel Gibson did what Billy Graham could not do. Through his movie The Passion of the Christ, he took the cross of Jesus and planted it squarely in the middle of American public life. For a few ...read more