Called Capstone

Good morning, for the last 5 weeks we have taken a look at 5 different characters from the Bible and how the call of God played a part in their life. Or perhaps better said how the individuals in each story played a part in God’s calling.

This week I’m going to take just a few minutes to remind you of a couple of key moments in this series that I believe we need to re-visit then I’ll introduce one additional idea. From there, I want us to take some extra time to respond to the call with great intentionality. Thus the cards that you were handed as you walked in today. On that card you see the phrase…

Woe to me… A few weeks ago Pastor Tom brought a message and at one point during that morning he brought attention to 1 Corinthians 9:16 where the apostle Paul said woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. Pastor Tom then posed the question to us as a people what is your woe to me? How would you fill in the blank? I think the question froze many of us. A few people whispered an answer, but in that moment I knew it was a question all of us needed to answer so I thought I would give you a few weeks to think about it then ask you the question again.

Before we do that let me remind you of key moment number two from our series which I think can be summed up as the…

The Gospel is Everything

Pastor Colton brought an incredible challenge to us last week from the story of Jonah and he reminded us that we often attribute our calling to a status, position, role, living location, or wages. He then pointed out that almost every instance of when someone is “called” in scripture, it has to do with either sharing the gospel or sharing with others the need for repentance. I could not agree more with this point that he made. The call will always be about moving the gospel message forward. But the manifestations of this call are endless.

If you love being in the kitchen than bless others with food. And tell them Jesus is the bread of life.

If you love fishing, teach kids to fish and tell them about being fishers of men.

If you love building, build with others and tell them about how Jesus is a firm foundation.

If you love teaching, teach them that a respect for God is the beginning of wisdom.

If you love landscaping, work with others and remind them that God is the creator of all things.

If you like dumpster diving, trash picking, or thrifting, tell people that Jesus restores all things.

We have said throughout this series that the call is not just to the pulpit to preach or the stage to sing. The Gospel IS Everything but it also can be IN everything. God didn’t put a passion for something in you today to make you miserable by abandoning it. He put it in you so you could use it to show other people the Gospel through it…I would even say particular people that only you can reach.

Do what you love and do it well, and when people see you doing it well, tell them why. It might not be about doing something new, it might be doing it in a new way. We are headed into a big friend day. Every month we invite a friend for first Sunday but twice a year we have friend day and our next one is November. On the way to that day similar to our prayer care share campaign from the spring, in October we are going to talk about interceding for people, investing in people, and inviting people to hear the gospel message.

God made you who you are, put you where you are, and put you around who you are around to extend the Gospel in the time, place, and situation in which you currently exist.

Woe to me begs the question What do I need to do?

The Gospel is Everything encourages us to consider HOW do I need to do it?

and the new thought regarding call that I have for you this morning is that the call always requires change. For this let’s look at Matthew 19:16.

The Call Requires Change

Matthew 19:16–22 “Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

This passage is almost always referenced in a message that talks about money, materialism, or giving. But I shared these 7 verses this morning to point out exactly one thing. When Jesus calls you TO something, He always you calls you FROM something. REPEAT Sometimes this happens simultaneously, sometimes it’s one than the other. But it’s pretty straightforward, If i call one of my children to come see me in the living room, they have to come FROM the kitchen. If I call you to come TO my house, you have to leave FROM your house. The 7 verses I read to you today are usually referred to as the story of the Rich Young Ruler. Jesus had no problem with his money as far as we can tell, but his money caused him to be preoccupied with other things. Wealth requires management. Hobbies require time. Careers keep us captive. Plans keep us imprisoned. Titles call us to obligations. Sinful habits keep us from intimacy.

Jesus is calling to you. What is He calling you from? The call requires change. To say that you are called to something without being called FROM something is to say that you believe that you can be two places at once. If we can’t do physically it’s even less possible spiritually.

The call to follow Christ in this life is a most interesting thing. In some cases the call requires us to leave behind something that’s established in our lives, sometimes it calls us to not pursue something we intended to pursue, sometimes it calls us to do so even after we’ve invested so much in a certain direction. The longer it takes you to answer the call, the greater sacrifice that you will have to make. I’m going one direction, God asks me to go another. 

Woe to me… What do I need to do?

The Gospel is Everything… How do i need to do it?

The Call requires Change. When do I need to do it?

The sooner the better. The later the harder.

Every day you don’t do what you ought, the more established you will become in what you should not. REPEAT

We believe that when we attain to a certain level of education, finances, accomplishments, then we will answer the call,. But… the longer you wait the more entrenched in that lifestyle that you’ve created and grown to enjoy. But just like the rich young ruler, his sadness came because he had everything that we are all currently running to obtain. The longer you wait the harder it will be to answer.

RESPONSE: Invite Team

We have two songs for worship and response today and we are taking some time because we want you to be intentional over these next 10 minutes to reflect these message from the last 6 weeks. Grab your card, Your calling card, Erica Dimmerling named it for me so there’s her shout out. Woe to me TODAY if I don’t. I had the word today underlined because you’ve had 6 weeks to think about this and God is talking to you right now. I couldn’t be more sure of it. I believe you will never meet a person that God’s not having a conversation with. And I’m going to ask you to either right now in this very moment or sometime in the next ten minutes fill out this card and come and put it in box (one of these boxes). Maybe you come and bow at the altar with that card before you put it in the box and pray over it first. Or you could be a super Christian this morning and you could grab a friend and you could share your card with them and you could hold each other accountable. Once those cards hit the box I’m going to have people this week pray over them for you. We didn’t put a place for a name, but if God calls you to put your name on it somewhere so we can pray specifically for you that’s totally fine as well.

Can I go after your excuse right now. Jonathan, I still don’t sense God calling me to some BIG or PARTICULAR thing. Everything God does is awesome. If you don’t sense Him calling you to something big, it’s because there is a smaller thing that you need to take care of first. There’s a principle in scripture that teach us that when show ourselves faithful with little we will then gain the opportunity to be faithful with much. What we label little God does not. Every step is important to God. We’ve said that here as part of our vision and mission for Capital City Church. One more for Jesus matters because the next step of obedience is the most important one.

If you ARE sensing something big. Don’t be afraid. If He calls you to do it, He will see you through it.

Woe to me today if I don’t… stop a particular sin, God needs you to repent so He can use you for greater things.

Woe to me today if I don’t…love my family. If I don’t embrace my job as a mission field. If I don’t share my faith where i fear it won’t be received.

Woe to me today if I don’t use this breath in my lungs, and this day I’ve been given to further the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Woe to me TODAY if I don’t fill out my calling card to acknowledge that God is calling me.

PRAY

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