God's Calling

What is God doing with my life?

Tuesday at Gameday I asked the question:

What will you do with what you’ve been given?

We’ve all been given life. Jesus has opened Himself to all of us in this room, but He won’t impose Himself or force Himself on you.

Jesus doesn’t come to you and command you to follow Him. He comes with an open invitation and leaves it up to you whether you follow or not.

What are you doing with what you’ve been given?

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If I gave you an Elephant, you can’t kill it, you can’t get rid of it or sell it.

What would you do with it?

It’s fun thinking things like this… It makes you a little uncomfortable.

It forces us to think beyond what’s normal in our daily lives.

We should always be thinking outside the box, not just when it’s encouraged.

What will you do with what you’ve been given?

Illustration:

When I was 18, feeling a call to ministry, I felt like God was calling me at some point to move to the western United States and start a camp for teens.

I remember at the time, hearing lots of stats about how teenagers are overlooked in the west.

Here in the south, You’ve literally got a church half a mile down the road (RBC), us, arguably the biggest church in Spartanburg 1 mile away (The Mill), and probably 20 other churches within 5 miles.

What are we as the church doing with what we’ve been given?

I always love looking back on moments like Helene and Covid, because both of those times gave us gifts.

It forced you outside your bubble - interact with your neighbors,

It blew up your routines and schedules

It reminded you of what are needs and what are wants.

It reminded you to be thankful.

In the church, we can take things for granted and get comfortable.

We are comfortable with people around us.

We have routines and schedules.

We focus on traditions rather than needs.

And we take things for granted, rather than express thankfulness for what we have.

To summarize this, In our personal life, in our churches, and in school/work/etc… We can become so accustomed to what’s comfortable that we miss Jesus and what Jesus is calling us to.

James 1:17 “17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

What is Jesus calling you to? What is He calling me to?

That calling I felt when I was 18 has changed.

I believe God has called me to be a pastor. To reach people.

I’ve been able to do that in a student ministry context for 14 years. But I think this next season is about God stretching me and teaching me something new to prepare me for something later.

New schedules, new routines, focusing on needs/wants, remembering to be thankful… All of these changes help us focus either on our selves…

Or it reminds us to focus on Jesus… that every good gift we have in this life is from Him!

So as believers we know from Matthew 28 that we are called to make disciples.

Are we eager to reach the lost?

Disciple the broken?

Invest in those younger than us to remind them of the grace and mercy of Jesus?

From 18 till now, that’s been my heart.

How can we reach unbelievers, but also how can we provide opportunities for believers to disciple others and be discipled themselves?

Sometimes I think good men leave where God placed them because they think God is doing something somewhere else that He can’t do right where they are.

To be clear. God calls men to go.

If you feel like God is calling you away, you should answer that call and go where He calls you.

But we should also consider, God has placed me here on earth, where He has for a reason.

What am I doing with what God has given me?

In John 1:9–11 “9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

John 1 is talking about Jesus.

Jesus felt the weight of rejection.

But it’s a sad testimony, that in the very home of Jesus He was rejected.

When is a time in your life you felt rejection?

rejection can sometimes come out of no where.

It’s painful, causes deep emotional wounds.

But don’t forget Jesus Himself was rejected… rejected by his home town people!

Everything that Jesus made, all of these humans made in His image that He cares for so deeply, try to kill him.

Even worse, we later succeeded by nailing Him to a cross.

Man… what were we doing!

When you feel rejected in life, don’t forget Jesus is with you in that valley.

Jesus has felt the full weight of rejection.

If someone read James 1:17 “17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

And Romans 8:28 “28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

If those were the only 2 verses you knew about God, what might you believe about Him that would be wrong?

God just gives us gifts and what we want.

God only gives us good things.

God never allows bad things to happen to us.

1 Peter 2:20–21 “20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”

Do not fear rejection. Do not fear the valley’s of life.

God was rejected by us, but He will never reject you.

The only way you will ever be rejected by God is if you die without Him.

In the sad place, if your desire was never for God, then He will finally give you the desire of your heart and give you eternity without Him.

But this is not what Jesus wants.

He wants to be the bridge between rejection and restoration.

2. Jesus is about Restoration (And how to bridge the gap between rejection and restoration).

When you start to drive you’ll learn about this thing called cruise control.

By the time you start driving though, cruise might even be a thing of the past and maybe it’ll be more “Ok, here’s what it means to put your car in AI mode and it drives itself versus you driving.”

Either way, cruise is basically you set a speed, and the car will maintain that speed for you.

Personally I hate this.

I’m a fidgeter. I don’t want to keep my feet off the pedals when I’m driving.

I think I’d fall asleep and kill somebody! That’s too boring!

No, I want to press the pedals. It’s fun.

Other people, like my dad, love setting cruise control and then just controlling the steering wheel.

Not me.

The point of life isn’t to find your lane, set cruise control, and sit back…

Life is hard. God calls us to trust in Him leading us through the valley and to trust in Him on the mountain top.

But even more than where you are, God calls us to trust Him on the path, on the trail.

Sometimes on the trail you feel lost, you don’t even know where you are at or when you will reach the destination, but you enjoy the conversation with those you are with.

That is the key.

God didn’t die on the cross so we could set our lives on cruise control.

He died to bridge rejection to restoration.

John 15:13 “13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Why did Jesus have to die?

One reason, because there has been no greater act of love.

Why would we reject Him who loves us to that depth.

“He came to that which was his own, but His own did not receive Him.” John 1…

But Jesus still showed that His love would be the bridge.

Are we trusting Him and resting in His work?

3. Jesus invites all of us to Rest.

Matthew 11:28–30 “28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.””

The call to journey with Jesus, to trust Him, to follow Him, to be restored by Him, to suffer with Him…

This is all hard.

It’s not easy to trust someone to that level…

Following Jesus is not a call to an easy life, but it is a call to a restful life.

Everyone around you will:

always be husting

always be in a hurry

always looking for what’s next

always filling up their calendars

always looking to be productive

Jesus, allowed interruptions, was present with who was in front of Him, and calls us to follow Him and His example.

He calls us to rest.

Who are you following? What are you pursuing?

What are you doing with the life you’ve been given?

You will experience rejection, restoration, and rest in this life, but is Jesus leading you in all those places?

He wants to be.

He’s worth it.

Follow Him all your days.

We love you guys, let’s pray.