Your Holy Calling

Intro

Missing painting

William Rudolf Hurst

This to me spoke powerfully of so many christiuans.

Christians who are lkooking for peace, that they already have in Christ.

John 14:27 KJV 1900

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Looking for strength they already have in chgrist

Exodus 15:2 KJV 1900

2 The Lord is my strength and song, And he is become my salvation: He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; My father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Christians who are looking for hope, hipe they already have in Cghrist

Psalm 71:5 KJV 1900

5 For thou art my hope, O Lord God: Thou art my trust from my youth.

This was Pauls great prayer for the Church. His prayer was:

Ephesians 1:15–19 KJV 1900

15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

Unlocking the fulness of God’s power begins with the most basic step:

1: The Knowledge of Him

The knowledge of Jesus results in your salvation. When you come to know him as your savior it is a wonderful moment, one at which all the angels in heaven rejoice.

But coming to know Christ is NOT the end of the story.

Whern you come to know Christ, at that moment all the blessings of Jesus are transferred into your life. However you are also ignorant of what all these blessings may be and how to use them.

That is why once we comwe to kjnow chirst, the next step is:

2 Peter 3:18 KJV 1900

18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Let me break it down for you:

Coming to know Christ results in salvation.

Growing in the knowelge and grace of Christ resukts in your sanctification

and when you come to know christ complete that resuklts in your glorification. (you dont need to worry about that because only when you see him when you die will you be glorified)

Having comew to know Christ, and knowing that one day we shall see Christ “My faith shall be sight”

All we have to focus on now is growng in the grace and knowledge of Him, and paul tells us how to do this:

Ephesians 1:18 KJV 1900

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Focus on your calling!

Your devotion and dilligence to your calling will not only be a source of great encouragment but it will also reveal to you all that you have been given in Jesusn christ.

2 Peter 1:10 KJV 1900

10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

The word church means “called out ones”.

You are called by God.

It is a holy calling

2 Timothy 1:9 KJV 1900

9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

By calling i dont mean vocation, your ministerial calling, I mean your calling as one of God’s Christledn.

What is your my our calling?

For a long time before i was apastor, i always thought that a calling was something pastiors, or evengelist get.

I confused callingt with vocation.

Now, yes, by God’s grace and sovergn choice a few are called to be part of the 5 fold ministry, but the “calling” that we are talking about here is the calling of everey christian.

So just what is every Christians calling?

1 Peter 2:9 KJV 1900

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

That is the essence of the Christian calling: To come out of the relm of Darkness and live in the relm of God’s light.

Focus on this and you will discover all the fulness of the power of God’s ealth in your life.

The Fruitless works of Darkness

Ephesians 5:11 KJV 1900

11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

The fruit of darkness is simply another name for the works of the flesh.

Galatians 5:19–21 KJV 1900

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

To walk in the light is simply to manifest the fruit of the pirit:

Galatians 5:22–23 KJV 1900

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Here are these 2 world views. These 2 opposing ways of living your life.

There is the old way of life in whicvh we all used to live. And now there is the new way of life that God has called you into.

It is a matter of sinful living vs Holy Living.

And here is the secret:

When you focus on serving God, loving him and: VERY IMPORTANT

Ephesians 4:1 NKJV

1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,

Matthew 6:33 KJV 1900

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

And when you do that, what happens? All the other things you sought will automatically be added unto you.

If you seek strength - yoou do not persure strength - you persure Jesus and holiness and strngth will come to you.

If you desire peace - you do not look for peace - you look for Jesus and holiness and peace will find you.

If you are looking for a relationship - you do not go out and try to seek a partner, you seek Jessus and holiness and your Boaz or Ratchel will come to you.

It is in the seeking of Jesus and his righteousnedss that we find that we already have in Him that which we were seeking all along.