God's Chosen Instruments - A Commissioning Service

Sermon Brief

Date Written: August 17, 2013

Date Preached: August 18, 2013

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Series Title: Miscellaneous Sermon

Sermon Title: God’s Chosen Instruments

Sermon Text: Acts 9:13-18 [HCSB]

Introduction:

Has God even called you into service to His kingdom? While it is true that we are ALL called to be His witnesses and faithfully share Jesus with this world… God does NOT call everyone into vocational ministry!

Today, we are going to commission four young men:

Wren DePratter, as Minister of Children

Brantley Ditto, as Minister of Young Adults

Joshua Peeler, as Minister of Discipleship/Outreach

Bart Taylor, as Minister of Senior Adults

These young men have demonstrated a firm faith and trust in God that He has called them into full time vocational ministry… and because of this they have surrendered their lives to educate themselves and train themselves up to become called the ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they are called to be…

This morning I want us to look at a passage of Scripture about the calling of an individual… Paul was called by God on the Road to Damascus as he was going there to persecute the Christians!

The story goes like this… Paul had letters from religious leaders to go to Damascus and jail, torture or even put to death all the Christians he could find.

But on the way to Damascus Paul met Jesus… Jesus sent a blinding light and blinded Paul and spoke to Paul’s heart and told him that he was going to be a messenger to the Gentiles about Jesus Christ!

Paul had been taken from the road to Damascus to a house IN Damascus and God then begins to ‘commission’ Paul… God calls on the services/action of a man by the name of Ananias. Let’s go to Acts 9 and we will read v13-18 (HCSB)

God has called these men into His service – v15

15But the Lord said to him, “Go! For this man is My chosen instrument to take My name to Gentiles, kings, and the Israelites.

Paul was chosen by God to be used by God… Paul was God’s instrument for reaching the Gentiles with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

We all know that Paul was used by God in some pretty mighty ways… Paul was submissive to this calling and God uses Paul for great things.

This morning four young men are being commissioned into the service of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! These men are being called by God just as Paul was called by God.

Paul was called by Jesus for the purpose of reaching the lost with His message… that message was for the Jews AND the Gentiles and Paul’s focus was going to be centered around the Gentiles.

Now these young men have prayed and have all expressed a calling of some sort into the Gospel ministry. These young men have been willing to surrender their lives for the sake of the Gospel…

Like Paul, one day they were headed in ONE direction in their life and then the next, God had them humbled before Him and then pointed them in the direction He desired for them…

Today we are NOT putting our seal on God’s calling, but today we are saying AS A FELLOWSHIP that we trust God and His choice for service to Him!

Today we acknowledge our faith in God and His choice of instrument to reach this community for Christ!

God has called these young men to be instruments of the Gospel… to both reach the lost of our community AND to help equip those IN our fellowship for the work of the Gospel IN our community. Today we acknowledge our trust in God’s choice of instrument!

God has called Wren DePratter along with his wife Jeannie and their two, soon to be three children to serve Him in our fellowship… with a focus on the children of our fellowship and OF our community!

God has called Brantley Ditto along with his wife Laura to serve Him in our fellowship… with a focus on the Young Adults of our fellowship and OF our community!

God has called Bart Tayler to serve Him in our fellowship with a focus on the Senior Adults of our fellowship (Our Live Oaks ministry) AND the Sr Adults of our community…

God has called Josh Peeler to serve Him in our fellowship with a focus on the discipleship/training of the believers within our fellowship and to reach and evangelize those who do NOT know Jesus in our community!

God has called these men to be HIS instruments… just as God called Paul as His instrument to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles… God is calling these young men to OUR community for His glory!

But not only has God called these men to be His instruments…