Walk In Your Calling

Ephesians 4:1

*I missed something important this morning. We must practice what we have learned this weekend.

Here’s some suggestions:

Write down what you know you need to work on. Take a sticky note and slap it on your bathroom mirror.

I dealt drastically with this. I would write on my hand, Col 3:12

Set alerts or reminders on your phone.

Take 10-15min and put an alarm on the phone to pray.

Let me illustrate with a story.

One day, a young disciple of Christ ..... desirous of wanting to become all that God has for him visited the home of an elderly Christian.

He had heard that this old man ..... over all the years ..... had never lost his first love for Christ.

The elderly man was sitting on the porch with his dog ..... taking in a beautiful sunset. The young man posed this question:

"Why is it, sir, ..... that most Christians zealously chase after God during the first year or two after their conversion, ...... but then fall into a complacent ritual of church once or twice a week ........and end up not looking any different than their neighbors who are not even Christians?

I’ve heard you are not like that. I have been told that you have fervently sought after God throughout all these years.

People see something in you that they do not see in most other people. ..... What makes you different?"

The old man smiled and replied, "Let me tell you a story: One day I was sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog.

Suddenly a large white rabbit ran across the yard right in front of us.

Well, my dog jumped up, and took off after that big rabbit.

He chased the rabbit over the hills with a passion.

Soon, other dogs joined him, attracted by his barking.

What a sight it was, ..... as the pack of dogs ran barking across the creeks, ... up the stony embankments ..... through thickets and through the thorns!

Gradually, however, one by one, the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, ......discouraged by the course ...... and frustrated by the chase.

Only my dog continued to hotly pursue the white rabbit."

"In that story, young man, lies the answer to your question."

The young man sat in confused silence.

Finally, he said, "Sir, I do not understand.

What is the connection between the rabbit chase and the quest for God?"

And the old man said, "You fail to understand because you failed to ask the obvious question.

And that is ...."Why didn't the other dogs continue on the chase?"

The answer to that question is ..... they ..... had not seen the rabbit.

For unless you see the prize, ..... the chase is just too difficult!

If you have seen and experienced the prize that is Jesus Christ, you will aim in this life to please him and live worthy of the calling.

We are again in Ephesians looking at the first few verses of chapter 4.

Paul says, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received [the literal translation is “walk worthy of the calling you have been called to”]. And I know that sounds really weird.

Paul has in mind the universal calling, which is to repentance and salvation in jesus Christ, but he is also pin pointing that we are to live our “calling” in a view of the great calling of salvation.

I SEE YOUR FACES AND YOU LOOK CONFUSED.

Let me explain.

God has a specific calling for each one of you. I know some of you hear this and are saying, “well, I’m not called. Ministers get called, missionaries get called”.

However, the Bible says that every Christian has a calling.

We live in a time where the devil has convinced young people they really have no purpose in this world.

The devil has people, even christians, convinced that life is about the pursuit of happiness, to be satisfied and make a comfortable living.

The bible says you have been “called with a calling”.

There’s purpose and direction for you life. God wants you to know the reason you are here and the how he wants to use you to advance his Kingdom.

God wants vs. God needs. God does not need anything. If needed something he would cease to be God.

God wants to use you for His Glory.

There is nothing more dreadful than to watch a person go aimlessly through life!

Until you come to KNOW Jesus as your personal LORD and SAVIOR, your living in darkness, you’re walking blind and as an enemy to Christ.

The first calling calling is the call to salvation in Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 “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.”

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Ephesians 2:4-8 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—”

The second calling is to reflect the image of Jesus.

Romans 8:29 “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

Paul is saying that we are first and foremost suppose to “conform” to the image of Jesus Christ. You and I are reflectors of Jesus.

God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ, has put us on display for the world to see the light of His Son Jesus.

The easiest way for me to put this idea of being created in the image of God and reflecting the image of jesus is this:

The ability to KNOW God, and the ability to REPRESENT him. This is what the Genesis account teaches us.

We were created to KNOW Him, and REPRESENT Him!

How Do We Do That?

By “living worthy of the calling you have been called to”.

The third calling is the individual call that God has for each one of us. God has a plan and purpose for each person.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 1:5 ““Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.””

Before I get to truly know who I am, I must know who THE I AM is.

Before I know who I am, I must know who the I AM is.

ILLUS. My personal testimony.

I grew up in a Christian family much like you. Around the age of 12 I started skateboarding and did that for years. I still jump on it sometimes.

I was obsessed. It became my idol. Morning, noon, and night!

Started to exhibit a rebellious spirit. Entered the punk rock scene and it began to damage my relationship at home, amongst church friends and church in general.

I idolized skating and snowboarding to the point where I was skipping classes, skipping work, and my mind was constantly in that world.

When I was 16, My grandma called me one day and said the Lord had given her a vision. It went like this, “Jonny, I saw you in a deep and dark well, covered with all kinds of filth and garbage, and the Lord reached down and pulled you out. He said you must stop”. She kept saying God is calling you to something else.

Spoiler alert, I didnt!

Summer passed and winter began. God said no skating, but he didn't say anything about snowboarding.

Guess what? Grandma called again! “Jonny, I saw large steps going up, and you were hiding behind the steps in the dark. God showed me that he reached out to you again and said if you will not stop, the next time you fall you will hardly get back up.

Few days before 2007, on a thursday, my pastor prompted the congregation to pray that the Lord would help them start the New Year right. And I prayed, “Lord, do whatever you can and bring me to my knees.”

On January 2nd, I had a severe snowboarding accident, completely snapped my clavicle, tore through some ligments, shoulder dropped 2 inches. That night when I got home, I got on my knees and I felt like a lightning bolt wnet through me. I realzied that God had answered my prays and he did what he knew would get my attention. He took what displaced Him and now he had me on my knees at my attention!

A few days later, I prayed God would you show me my report card. I asked him what he would want me to do.

Ipod Dream.