"God is Calling You"
God Has A Plan for Your Life, part 1
Jeff Armbrester
Ephesians 2:8-10
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)
Circle workmanship
Underline to do good works
You are a masterpiece in progress. God created you to do good. God created you to serve him.
Because of sin, and a stubborn self-will, we do not hear God calling us. We do not hear the voice of God calling our names. Why is God calling us?
God is calling you
…into a relationship with Jesus.
Look at Ephesians 2:8&9. God is inviting you into a relationship with him. It is a relationship based on faith, your trust in Jesus. It is a relationship based on the work of salvation done by Jesus, not yourself.
Matthew 9:9-13
9As Jesus was going down the road, he saw Matthew sitting at his tax-collection booth. “Come, be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.
10That night Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. 11The Pharisees were indignant. “Why does your teacher eat with such scum£?” they asked his disciples.
12When he heard this, Jesus replied, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” 13Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to be merciful; I don’t want your sacrifices.’ For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.” (NLT)
Underline "For I have come to call sinners..."
Jesus is calling all sinners into a relationship with him. The relationship he is inviting you into is one based on love and mercy. It is not a relationship that condones a sinful lifestyle. Instead, it a relationship that transforms a sinner into a saint. It is a relationship that offers forgiveness for sin. It is relationship that allows you to stand before an almighty, pure God without spot or blemish.
Do you know Jesus? I’m not asking if you know about him? I’m asking do you know him? Have you trusted him as your Savior? Jesus is calling you into a relationship with him.
There is another group of people that Jesus is calling into a relationship with Jesus.
11:28-30
28Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (NKJV)
The context of this passage is that Jesus is calling those who are oppressed by religion. The Jewish people had become oppressed by a system filled with laws that no one could keep. Judaism had become a religion of works and judgment, not of faith and love.
Too often Christianity has become a religion of works and judgment rather than a religion of faith and love. Too often, Christianity has lost sight of the relationship and focused on the preservation of an institution or program.
Jesus is calling all those who have been hurt by religion into a relationship with him. A relationship based not on rules and regulations, but on love, mercy, faith. A relationship that offers healing and hope, not oppression and despair.
Jesus is calling all those who have been turned off by church into a relationship with himself. A relationship where you can grow and mature in Christ. A relationship in which you can become the person God intended you to be when he created you.
Jesus is calling you into a relationship with him. Will you accept? When will you stop trying to save yourself and trust Jesus? When will you stop wallowing in your self-pity and let Jesus fill you with hope? Are you tired? Are you weary of religion? Answer Jesus’ call and join into a relationship with him. Are you a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness? Listen to God’s call. Respond to his invitation to a relationship with Jesus.
Look at the responses on the back of the Welcome Card. Do you need to respond to God’s call for a relationship with Jesus?
Some of you have know Jesus for a long time. You’ve received forgiveness for your sin, you read your bible, and you pray.
God is calling you
…to be a disciple of Jesus.
Matthew 4:18-22
18One day as Jesus was walking along the shore beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen. 19Jesus called out to them, “Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 20And they left their nets at once and went with him.
21A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their nets. And he called them to come, too. 22They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind. (NLT)
Matthew 5:1
1One day as the crowds were gathering, Jesus went up the mountainside with his disciples and sat down to teach them. (NLT)
A disciple is someone who submits themselves to the teaching and coaching of another. If you want the full benefit of being a Christian, you need to respond to God’s call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Imagine a group of people coming to your home and interrupting your Twinkie-eating, TV-watching routine with an urgent message: “Good News! We’re from the United States Olympic Committee. We have been looking for someone to run the marathon in the next Olympics. We have statistics on every person in the entire nation on computer. We have checked everybody’s records – their performance in the president’s fitness test in grade school, body type, bone structure, right down to their current percentage of body fat. We have determined that out of two hundred million people, you are the one person in America with a chance to bring home the gold medal in the marathon. So you are on the squad. You will run the race. This is the chance of a lifetime.”
You are surprised by this because the farthest you have ever run is from the couch to the refrigerator. But after the first shock passes, you are gripped by the realization of what’s happening in your life. You picture yourself mingling with the elite athletes of the world. You allow yourself to imagine that maybe you do have what it takes. At night you dream about standing on the podium after the race and hearing the national anthem, seeing the flag raised, and bending low to receive the gold medal.
You begin to feel a sense of urgency. It will be your body wearing those little racing togs, with a billion people watching on television. But greater than any external pressure is the internal drive that says, “This is the race I was created to run. This is my destiny. This is why I was born. Here’s my chance!”
This race becomes the great passion of your life. It dominates your mind. It occupies every waking moment. To run the race – to win if you can – become the central focus of your existence. It is what gets you out of bed in the morning. It is what you live for. It is the chance of a lifetime.
Then it dawns on you: Right now you cannot run a marathon. More to the point, you cannot run a marathon even if you try really hard. Trying hard can accomplish only so much. If you are serious about seizing this chance of a lifetime, you will have to enter a life of training. You must arrange your life around certain practices that will enable you to do what you cannot do now by willpower alone. When it comes to running a marathon, you must train, not merely try.”
John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, pp. 45-46
Contributed by: Joel Smith
To become a disciple of Jesus is allow Jesus to discipline you so you can become the person God intends you to be. Discipline is training. Discipline is conditioning. Most of all, discipline is submitting yourself to the authority of someone. Athletes submit themselves to the authority of a coach. Military personnel submit themselves to their officers. As Christians, we submit ourselves to Jesus and to godly men and women who can coach us in our relationship with Jesus.
In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Prior Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery. "Your Majesty," said Prior Richard, "do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king."
"I understand," said Henry. "The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you."
"Then I will tell you what to do," said Prior Richard. "Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you." When King Henry died, a statement was written: "The King learned to rule by being obedient." When we tire of our roles and responsibilities, it helps to remember God has planted us in a certain place and told us to be a good accountant or teacher or mother or father. Christ expects us to be faithful where he puts us, and when he returns, we’ll rule together with him.
Steve Brown, Key Biscayne, Florida.
Sermon Illustrations.com
Have you answered God’s call to be a disciple of Jesus?
God is calling you
…to be to in ministry. (send)
Luke 10:1-4
1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. (NIV)
1 Peter 2:9
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (NIV)
Though many of us have seen pictures of a huge eagle’s nest high in the branches of a tree or in the crag of a cliff, few of us have gotten a glimpse inside. When a mother eagle builds her nest she starts with thorns, broken branches, sharp rocks, and a number of other items that seem entirely unsuitable for the project. But then she lines the nest with a thick padding of wool, feathers, and fur from animals she has killed, making it soft and comfortable for the eggs. By the time the growing birds reach flying age, the comfort of the nest and the luxury of free meals make them quite reluctant to leave. That’s when the mother eagle begins "stirring up the nest." With her strong talons she begins pulling up the thick carpet of fur and feathers, bringing the sharp rocks and branches to the surface. As more of the bedding gets plucked up, the nest becomes more uncomfortable for the young eagles. Eventually, this and other urgings prompt the growing eagles to leave their once-comfortable abode and move on to more mature behavior.
Today in the Word, June 11, 1989.
Contributed by: Roy Fowler
Sermon Central
Jesus calls us to serve one another in his name as well. Serving people will help us grow in our relationship with Jesus and with people.
An elderly widow, restricted in her activities, was eager to serve Christ. After praying about this, she realized that she could bring blessing to others by playing the piano. The next day she placed this small ad in the Oakland Tribune: "Pianist will play hymns by phone daily for those who are sick and despondent--the service is free." The notice included the number to dial. When people called, she would ask, "What hymn would you like to hear?" Within a few months her playing had brought cheer to several hundred people. Many of them freely poured out their hearts to her, and she was able to help and encourage them.
Source Unknown.
Sermon Illustrations.com
Closing
Jesus is calling you. How will you respond?
