Purpose Full: Divine Calling | Part 1

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Well, today we're kicking off a brand new series called Purposeful.

Purposeful.

Why don't you say that with me?

Purposeful.

Like, how do you live like a life full of purpose?

You know life's big questions.

You wrestled with them at one point, or maybe you're wrestling with them.

You know the question of existence, why am I here?

The question, you know, of meaning or significance, does my life matter?

The question of purpose, what am I here for?

And isn't it true that for many of us, this last year probably shook the foundation of many of those questions?

Like, why am I here?

What's going on?

I don't even understand what's happening in the world.

And does anything matter at all?

And we're talking about purpose.

Like life was put on pause, but last year was, quote, canceled?

Like what happens in the middle of that?

Or for some, you felt like your purpose was lost.

Because so much of your life was built around what you did or who you were around.

And then all of a sudden those things were stripped away.

Whether it was the approval of people or success in your job, and now you're looking around and going, like, why am I here?

What is really going on?

And then I think a lot you just kind of felt like this is just purposeless.

What's the point of it all?

And the question is, how do we actually live a life, and can we live a life full or filled with purpose?

Now, what's incredible about the gospel and the writings of Scripture is God's word just begins from the very pages of the Bible saying that you are filled with purpose.

I mean, just think about this.

This is in the first couple pages of the Bible in Genesis where it says that you are created in the image of God.

Like you're, I'm looking at image bearers.

I'm looking at ones who have intrinsic value and worth, who is not an accident, who is not a mistake, one who has been intentionally carefully designed and placed on purpose.

I like how Dallas Willard says it.

He says that you are an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe.

Have you ever thought about yourself like that?

I mean, think about that.

That's who you are.

You're an eternal being.

You will go on forever.

And you have an eternal destiny in God's great universe.

There's a point to it all and a point to your life.

And so, what does this mean?

First, it means that you were made on purpose.

Don't miss this because some of you need this today.

This is the reason God has you here.

You were made on purpose.

You're not an accident, you're not a mistake, you're not a waste of time.

Whatever those thoughts that have been rattling around in your mind are alive from the pit of hell.

You're made on purpose, and as a result, you're made for a purpose.

God has such an incredible plan for you, and He's designed you.

And as Christina talked about last week, that you're fearfully and wonderfully made, knit together, and there's a purpose and a plan, and you don't want to miss it.

And the question that all of us wrestle with then is well, how in the world, you know, do I figure out God's purpose for my life?

I get it, Ryan.

God has a purpose for my life.

But what is God's purpose for my life?

Thank you very much.

I've been asking that question for decades.

Or better yet, what is God's calling in your life?

And to be sure, this isn't just a 20-year-old question.

I think sometimes we think about this, like, yeah, I remember asking that question when I was in my 20s, you know, and we wrestle with that, you know, we're wrestling with our why am I here and what is my job and all these sort of things.

But it's definitely a question in the 40s, by the way, 20s.

You know why?

There's a little thing, you may have heard of it, you might not have, it's really not that big of a deal.

Little thing called a mid-life crisis.

Where people do the dumbest things because they realize one thing.

The weight of what they've built their life on no longer supports their life.

And so they're looking for something else to bring purpose and meaning, and maybe it's found in a new car, maybe it's found in a new life entirely.

And then when I talk to those in our church that are in their 60s, 70s, those who have lived life well look back with great contentment and satisfaction.

But I've also had too many conversations that look back with regret and pain.

And I wish I would have invested my life differently.

The things I poured my life in, the purposes I thought mattered really didn't.

So, how do we discover God's calling on our life?

I want to talk about the divine calling of God, how he discovered it, and give you three specific clear callings of God in your life today to live that out.

And to do that, we're gonna dive back into Acts and Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

If you got your Bibles, go ahead and open up there.

And we're gonna look at a snapshot of where uh Barnabas and Saul get a clear calling from God.

It's this clear calling from God, and out of this, we're gonna unpack three clear callings for God in your life.

Begins this way.

Now, in the church at Antioch, there are prophets and teachers.

Barnabas, Simeon, called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menae, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetriarch, and Saul.

Now notice, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart, I don't know why that was my Holy Spirit voice.

Okay.

Um, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the word to which I've called them.

So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Don't you want that?

Like, wouldn't that make your life so simple?

Like all of a sudden, you're like what?

Timmy, this is my calling for your life.

Like, fantastic, that would be great.

Like, Ingram, that is so dramatic.

I mean, when is that ever gonna happen?

Yeah, I would love to have the Holy Spirit say, set apart me, and here we go.

How do you discover God's calling for your life?

What's fascinating though is the backstory to this moment.

What led up and set up this moment that gave Paul and Barnabas their specific calling.

You see, there is the clear calling of God on your life, his will for your life, that when we live it out, then his specific calling for your life will be revealed.

And the challenge before many of us is we want God's specific calling without living out his revealed calling.

You see, I want to give you a little bit of the backstory of Paul or Saul, and a little bit of his background because what you'll see is how God was working to this moment of setting apart for a new season of ministry, and it's what God wants to do in your life, and how he wants to grow and help you become who he's made you to be to live out the purposes for your life.

And so today I want to give you three clear callings of God for your life to live out.

The first is simply this you are called to Jesus.

You are called to Jesus.

Um, this might be, no, it's not might be.

This is the most important one.

Lean in with me here.

If you miss, if we get nothing out of this, get this.

Now, you remember Saul's story?

We talked about it Easter Sunday.

He was traveling on the road to Damascus.

He was a persecutor of the faith.

He has a life-changing encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, and as a result, his entire world flipped, the entire direction of his life.

His job, in fact, changed.

He encountered the risen Savior, and it changed everything in his life.

See, your first and foremost calling is not to a job.

Not to your school, to your education.

It's not even to your marriage.

Your first calling is to Jesus.

You are called to a person first instead of a task.

You're invited into a relationship.

Not rules.

See, for some, you need a life-changing encounter with Jesus this morning.

I like the way Jesus said it.

His invitation to you and to me today, he says, come to me.

Like, would you?

Would you really come to me?

The invitation's always been open wherever you've been.

The invitation's always been there, where whatever you've done, come to me.

Come to me, all who are weary and burdened.

I gotta imagine out of the last eighteen months, we have a church full of weariness and burdens.

Come to me, and I'll give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, for I'm gentle and humble in heart, and you'll find rest for your soul.

See, the challenge for us is when we're talking about Jesus being our first calling, is the way we answer that often in real life is it's Jesus plus something else equals my purpose in life.

Maybe it's Jesus plus your job, or Jesus plus man, when I marry him, or when I meet her, Jesus plus, you know, when when we're finally able to have kids, or Jesus plus success or upward mobility, or you know, these sort of things.

And it's just Jesus.

It's just him.

It's your first, my first calling.

Nothing more and nothing less than simply Jesus.

I like how Rick Warren says it.

He says, the first purpose of your life or calling is to let God love you.

Isn't that good?

The first purpose and calling of your life.

And he doesn't say to love God, which certainly that is true, but is to let God love you.

You know how you let God love you?

You come to him.

You gotta come to him.

Like you have a perfect heavenly father who's eager to hear your voice.

A Savior who suffered and died for you to bring you into relationship.

He says, just just come to me.

Would you let God love you today?

Would you stop putting up the walls, stop putting up the things that that I get it, that you have hurts and you have wounds and you have baggage and you have these things that you just built up and you just like God, I'm just so nervous and afraid.

Okay, okay, God, I'm a little but I'm just gonna come to you and here's my heart.

And he meets you there every single time.

Our first calling.

Our first calling is to be is we are called to Jesus, called to a person.

The second calling and clear calling of our lives is we're called to faithfulness.

We're called to faithfulness.

You know, it's interesting when you read through Acts, and it's so uh it's kind of hard because we miss it as we don't realize like you can flip a page and like years have gone by, you know.

Um, so Paul's in Damascus, right?

He actually spent three years in Damascus, but it's one sentence in Acts.

And he spends three years in Damascus, and then he travels back to Jerusalem.

And when he goes back to Jerusalem, everybody's still afraid of him, even after three years.

They're like, we don't trust this guy, we don't know this guy.

And I love it, Barnabas, he's a son of encouragement.

He's the only one that goes to Paul, puts his arm around him, and he actually brings them up to the apostles and brings them into community and into fellowship.

And then the apostle Paul, Saul, then he's he starts preaching in Jerusalem.

And I mean, some people are getting upset in the city and they want to kill him now.

These are people that we would call friends then.

And so the disciples don't really know what to do, and they set him off to his hometown of Tarsus.

Now I have a map up there.

I don't know if you can see it.

If you want the slide deck, just email me.

I'd be happy to get that so you can visualize all this.

Now, from chapter 9 to chapter 13, where Paul and Barnabas are called out, the amount of time is 13 years.

A 13 year span, and 10 of those years was spent in Tarsus.

Paul went home, lived with his mama and his daddy, and was doing the family business.

I mean, he's the original boomerang kid.

Too many of you are boomerang kids to find that funny.

You're like, I'm living with mama, she's next to me.

Don't he went, he goes back.

And think about this.

The guy who would let one day pen much of the New Testament, who would plant hundreds of churches, spends a decade.

Spends a decade.

And what's he doing?

Well, the reality is we don't really know what he's doing because it's called the silent years.

We have nothing recorded.

Here's what we know he worked the family trade.

Because we know he was Paul, he couldn't help but share about Jesus.

And he was just faithful with what was in front of him for a decade.

See, we're called to faithfulness, we're called to be faithful for what's in front of us.

And we struggle with this today because two big things, I think.

One is we have a Google reflex, right?

I I ordered some new shoes.

I got this boot on now that when I stand up on this thing, I'm like 6'3, it's awesome.

Um but I don't have a second shoe that's tall enough, so I tried to get one a little bit taller.

You know how long it's taken me?

It's gonna take a week.

An entire week to ship a single shoe.

Well, I got two of them, but uh a shoe to my house.

Now, a long time ago, ten years ago, that would have been awesome.

Today, if I don't get it next day, this is awful.

This is the worst thing ever.

Why?

Because we're used to, if you Google it, you get it.

Whatever you Google, it's instantaneous.

And that's how we think our Christian walk and formation is is just Google it.

No, it's about process, it's about formation.

God is so concerned about who you are and forming you into Christ, and He will take his time.

He is not in a hurry.

You might be in a hurry, you might be wanting to get on with your life, and he says, you know what, it might take a decade.

And that isn't a waste, by the way.

Those 10 years were not a waste for the Apostle Paul, they were forming him.

And we complain, I put we, me in the equited, about a year, pandemic year, and oh, what a waste! Could it be?

Could it have been?

Would you look at it with different eyes that in that he is forming you and longs to use those years powerfully in your life?

The other reason I think this is hard, it's not just the Google reflex for us, but we have Instagram envy, don't we?

Isn't it so hard when you're looking around and seeing everyone else live their best life, post their filtered reality, and you compare where you're at, how you're progressing with who and what others are doing around you, right?

Well, they just got that job, or they just are moving here, or they just had that kid, or they just got this house, and we just compare nonstop.

See, the calling on your life is faithfulness.

Okay, I'm gonna, God, if I'm faithful with what you put in front of me, you're saying that is more than enough.

That's doing what you've called me to do.

First call to Jesus, faithful, what's in front of me, faithful what's in front of me.

In fact, Jesus would say it this way whoever's faithful in a very little thing will also be faithful in much, or whoever's unfaithful or unrighteous in a very little thing will also be unrighteous or unfaithful in much.

What is the faithful little that he's putting in front of you?

What is the faithful little for your life that he's placed in front of you that it's easy to look ahead?

When I get there, then I'll do this.

When this happens, then I'll and he's going, no, be faithful with what is in front of you.

Maybe it's in your marriage, and you're looking like when she finally does this or when he does this, and God's going, no, you be faithful.

Be faithful in your singleness.

Well, when I get this, you know, be faithful right here with what he's put in front of you.

It is not waste, it's formation.

Be faithful in your work.

This job is so hard.

This I mean, come on.

My boss is a jerk.

Whatever you do, whether in word and deed, do it all into the name of the Lord Jesus.

And so I'm gonna be faithful in this job, not because I'm presenting something for this person, but I'm gonna work as unto the Christ, as unto the Lord.

Could I present it to you?

See, we're called to be faithful.

Those silent years were not a waste, wasted years, but formational years.

You see, it's your decisions that you make in obscurity that will shape your destiny.

See, we we want to be able to rise to those big moments, but those are done and formed in those obscure moments when no one's watching, in the hidden places, when you're faithful in your daily walk with him.

When you're just getting up in the morning and you're just going, like, I just want to know you, I want to spend time with you, and the little day by day, and it's forming the ever forming of Christ in you.

I remember when I started out in ministry, someone once said to me, Ryan, you be concerned with the Depth of your ministry.

Let God be concerned with the breadth of your ministry.

In our culture, in our day, we're so focused on the outcome or the product or renown or being a somebody, and God's not real impressed with that.

You focus on the depth.

Let God be concerned about the outcome.

Let God be concerned with the product.

Let Him be concerned with the fruit.

Three clear callings for you and I today.

We're called to Jesus.

We're called to faithfulness.

And finally, it is right in our text today, Acts 13, we're called to fellowship.

Their specific call, by the way, wasn't them just hanging out by themselves and had a great idea.

Man, I just think this would be the coolest thing ever.

Nothing wrong with that.

Their specific call came out of engaging in fellowship with one another.

You had these guys, what were they doing together?

Tell me out.

If you had your Bible open, you can read it.

What were they doing together?

Praise God for one of you.

Absolutely.

Worshiping and fasting.

Thank you.

They're worshiping.

See, we like to be connected, but community takes it deeper.

Fellowship takes it even deeper.

That you're sharing your lives and that you're sharing your lives in such a way that you'd be shaped more into the life of Christ.

Like when we get together, when we hang out, that you're like, do you walk away wanting to be more like Jesus with the people you're hanging out with?

Do you go like, wow, I just was with them and my heart just it was, I like want to be more like Jesus as a result.

That's fellowship.

See, we're called to fellowship.

In fact, the author of Hebrew says it this way.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Like, think about your friends.

Think about uh people that you hang out with.

And and would you consider, like, how can I spur you on?

How can I encourage you towards love and good deeds?

Not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, or a pandemic caused us to do it.

But we got to re-engage.

We gotta re-engage, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day approaching.

Called to Jesus, called to faithfulness, and called to fellowship.

Here's something that I I see a lot.

Is I see a lot in our, you know, ice after isolation, and we have a hyper-individualistic society and culture, and so it's about me, it's about my thing, and I'm gonna kind of figure it out.

I gotta figure it out all on my own.

And by the way, Gen Z, you're by statistic the most lonely generation.

We don't want that for you.

That's not God's design for you.

You don't have to figure it out on your own.

It's why the community of Christ is here.

But here's what I see on major decisions or figuring out God's specific calling for your life.

I see people do this all the time.

They've never asked or been in fellowship with one another, and they come up with an idea, and here's what they say to me.

You know, right?

God called me to do blank.

And you know what I say?

Well, fantastic.

That's amazing.

I might be thinking in my head, that sounds dumb.

Did you really think this through?

But if God called you to do it, if you heard from Jesus, who in the world am I to say differently?

Isn't it interesting how we use these terms, but it actually cuts out the very feedback or the wisdom that we need.

See, fellowship, when you're with a group of people, they get to see your strengths, they get to see your weaknesses.

You've been journeying together, you've been worshiping together, and then you are invited in that they begin to discern with you God's call on your life.

You know, uh when we were planting awakening as a church, I've shared this many times, we never wanted to plant a church, and I never wanted to lead a church.

It was in fellowship where this became clear that this was God's call on our life.

You know, it was nine years ago this fall, uh, Steve Clifford said, okay, would you go at least do this church planner assessment thing?

And he saw in me, and the elders at awakening saw in us something that we couldn't see in ourselves, and we were really trying to discern what's next, and we had godly community like walking alongside.

He said, Go do this, you know, church planner's assessment thing.

I'm like, I didn't even know that existed.

And we we we went to this church planner assessment thing, Majig, and it was intense.

It was five days from eight in the morning till eight at night.

They did these batteries of exams and personality profiles, they had two clinical psychologists that you met with, and I mean, it was all day.

I remember one day uh at some point we're supposed to preach a sermon.

This is how out of it I was.

I didn't even know we're supposed to do that, and we have these guys that like their entire dream is to plant churches.

They came with their you know bulletins and their PowerPoint for the sermon, and I got my mole skin.

I'm like, I gotta write a couple down notes down for a sermon real quick on this thing.

And what we were was in there's 22 assessors, there's about 20 couples, and they had to come to a unanimous decision on every single couple.

And we were so honest, we were so open, every struggle we had, everything in our marriage, everything.

We're just like, here it is, we're not even sure we're supposed to do this.

But we wanted to hear from God.

And they spent the night over every single couple, and all 22 had to come to a unanimous decision.

If they didn't, they got on their knees and prayed for literally a half an hour over that couple and then circled back.

And it was either yes, no, or not yet.

Quite literally, that Friday morning, we sat down with a couple of those assessors, expecting them how the week went, for them to say, no.

There's no way.

Fantastic.

I'm glad God you were clear, you know.

And these two assessors said, you know what?

We believe God has called you to plant awakening as a church.

You're called to do it now, and that you'll be highly effective for the kingdom.

I gotta tell you, Jenny and I, we were we were bawling like babies.

I'm a crier at my wedding, it was snot everywhere, it was bad.

But my wife's not a big crier, and she was bawling too.

I mean, we were just bawling because it felt like this moment in Acts 13 where there's a group that with the Spirit directing and praying together and discerning the will of God and speaking in and sending and commissioning, and oh, that we would do that for one another and that we would surround one another.

And it's not like it has to stay in this isolated over here, but in your small group as you're trying to discern a major move, you're trying to discern whether you should get married, or you're trying to discern, you know, a job change, and you go, would you fast and would you pray and would we move together with the spirit?

That is the life that God's inviting us into.

See, there's three clear callings.

And when we live out these clear callings of Jesus, we then begin to experience and know his specific calling for our life.

You see, 90%, roughly 90% of God's will or calling on your life is revealed in God's word.

We obsess over the 10% and God, would you show me?

God, would you show me who to marry?

God would you show me where to work?

God, will you show me where I need to move?

God, will you show me what I need to do?

And God's going, like, I've showed you so much.

If you just start doing what I'll show you, then I'll show you what you need to know.

How do you discover God's calling for your life?

Center your life on Jesus.

Be faithful with what's in front of you.

Be faithful with what's in front of you and engage in Holy Spirit-directed community.

Where are you?

Where are you?

And as you're taking notes, what is your next step?

Write it down before you leave today.

Okay, what I haven't centered my life on you, Jesus.

It's been adrift, or man, I haven't been in community.

I've been in isolation.

I need that faithful thing.

Oh man, that got me.

Write it down and take your next step.

Lord Jesus, thank you so much for today, your grace, for your word.

Thank you that you are clear with us, that you lead us, that you speak to us, and that you're working and moving, and your will and your ways are not a mystery, but you have revealed them openly.

God, would you give us the courage to take the next step with you to become who you've called us to be and to live out your purpose in our lives.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

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