Confirming your Calling

Introduction

The Calling of God is one of the most exciting aspects of our personal relationship with God. The fulfillment of personal destiny is wonderful to experience. The journey towards one’s calling is equally exciting. There are several thoughts to introduce as we move towards a satisfying fulfillment of destiny. I am in the midst of another PLBC course on Leadership. So far it has been a very encouraging study. Barry McGaffin gave a video lecture on the importance of leaders being healthy in their service to God and his church. He stated that character is always more important than charisma, integrity more than gifting and faithfulness is more important than a diploma. Everyone here this morning has gifts that are God given that are to be discovered. As these talents are developed they led into the fulfillment of personal destiny. But these three values, godly character, integrity, and faithfulness, are key to confirming your calling. As I have been praying about this message I have been meditating on the Scripture 2 Peter 1:3-11. This speaks to me of the journey of discovering and developing one’s calling and making it come to pass.

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Peter is writing to believers who are going through significant struggles staying true to the faith due to false teachers and prophets, people mocking their spiritual stand, and to some degree they are struggling to see the fulfillment of the calling and faith. With this Scripture in mind, I would like to share some stories with you this morning about two very different people who came into their calling. These stories speak to me of the struggles we all face as we seek to become the person God intends us to be.

George Frideric Handel

Handel was born in Germany in 1685 to parents who wanted him to become a lawyer, however, he had other ideas. Handel loved music and he loved God and sought to glorify the latter through the former. For many years, a young Handel traveled the European countryside composing and sharing his 42 operas with the world. He was good with music but not so with money. He suffered financial loss and the stress of his bankruptcy gave way to a serious stroke and temporary paralysis in his right arm and blurred vision in his eyes. He suffered great discouragements and doubts with what to do next. With his travelling days, behind him George Handel began to compose choral pieces that were originally designed to teach people the stories and doctrines of the Bible. In those days Bibles were so rare and expensive that few could afford them. The commoner who did have a Bible were often not educated enough to read them well. To overcome these obstacles composers set the great stories and truths of Scripture to music so that men and women of any age could forever learn God’s Word.

However, in 1741, at the age of 56 his health began to fail again and he found himself emotionally broken. During his depression, a man named Charles Jennens was writing and compiling the lyrics about the birth, passion, and return of Christ. Upon reading this, Handel was instantly inspired and feverishly began to compose the Messiah using Jennens’ lyrics. The entire score was completed in a remarkable 24 days. There are stories about Handel shut up in his room composing for hours on end. Handel’s assistant would bring food that would remain uneaten. Oftentimes there was no response from Handel as he was lost in composing music. One time his assistant supposedly found the conductor sobbing uncontrollably. He was asked what was wrong, Handel held up the score to the Hallelujah movement and said, “I think I saw the face of God”.

On March 23, 1743, Handel’s Messiah was premiered in a charity event at the Music Hall of Dublin. In attendance that evening was King George II of Great Britain. When the Hallelujah chorus rang out, George II stood to his feet for the duration of the piece. It is recorded that, out of respect and loyalty for the king, the entire audience did the same. As a result, the tradition of standing during the Hallelujah chorus was born and is continued to this very day. Some years later, the Messiah became the basis and inspiration for another great Christmas carol we know and love, Joy to the World.

George Handel’s journey towards the fulfillment of his calling was glorious and challenging.

· He had a knowledge of Jesus and God’s power that carried him through his challenges.

· He made every effort to press forward even in the midst of sickness and financial loss.

· He added to his faith what was needed for him personally.

Loren Cunningham

The next person I want to speak about is the founder of Youth With A Mission, Loren Cunningham. From the age of twenty, Loren had a vision of “wave upon wave of young people becoming missionaries” and sweeping across the face of the world. This was a grand destiny that would be full of twists and turns. After the death of his grandmother, his grandfather and dad took up the evangelistic call of God. With parents that believed in God and followed his call. At one point in his early life, a “man of God” came to the door with a prophetic word that his father was coming home in a coffin. His mom woke up the next day to say she had a dream that her husband was coming home on a train and that is what happened. It was lessons like this that gave Loren a solid Christian upbringing and to listen to God’s voice.

Mark 16:15 was a transforming Scripture in his life - “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” His father’s sermon about a little Arab girl captured his attention. Loren was unable to hold back his enthusiasm and became an Assembly of God missionary and pastor. He travelled, preached, sang songs of praise, did evangelistic drama because of his calling to missions. Again, the vision of “waves and waves” of young people taking of the call of missions captured him. It was in December of 1960 that he and a group of friends came up with the name Youth With A Mission. It was a small beginning with family and a few friends and volunteers. In 1963 Loren met his with Darlene, also from the Assemblies of God and together YWAM began to take root in the hearts of many young people. There were twenty volunteers at this time and in 1966 ten full time staff with hundreds of volunteers.

Loren also experience some significant challenges to his calling. The Assemblies of God did not approve of his “interdenominational mission’s trips”; eventually he had to leave the Assemblies of God feeling rejected. His Aunt Sandra died. There were too few workers. Then there were many leaders and growing pains. There was a lack of finance. There was a serious car accident with himself and his wife. Success was in the air but so was failure; the vision to purchase a ‘mission’s ship’ failed and his reputation suffered.

All of these challenges only provided God an opportunity to prove himself faithful. Quality leadership was raised up all around the world; YWAM bases were established in Lausanne Switzerland and University of the Nations was founded in Kona Hawaii. Growing pains led them to deeper pursuit of God in prayer and fasting. Finances were released. They survived the car accident and rededicated themselves to God and the vision. A new ship was secured, the Ananstasis which means “resurrection” in Greek. Currently YWAM is the world’s largest interdenominational missions’ agency with a volunteer staff of 18,000, in 1,100 locations and 180 countries. Yearly there are over 25,000 people who attend their schools…

What can we learn?

I share these stories to bring encouragement to our hearts as we seek to “Apprehend God’s Heart and Fulfill His Dreams” at Courts of Praise. Just like these two individuals – we too have the calling of God on our lives personally and corporately. There is great excitement when we pray and envision God’s future for us. But there are also the challenges of seeing the purposes of God fulfilled. We have to learn how to overcome weaknesses, sickness and the discouragements that Handel suffered from and turn they into a glorious Hallelujah. Loren was given a wonderful vision but had to overcome rejection, financial struggles, lack of people resources, a serious car accident and failure. When we look at our own journey of faith towards our personal or corporate destiny, we too can recognize joys and real challenges. The key word is overcome and the key practice is obedience.

In Conclusion

This takes me back in thought to 2 Peter 1:3-11… God has blessed us with all that we need to live life to the fullest and in all godliness because of his power and promises. This is salvation’s good news… Peter then speaks to the church of his day and says “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith”. This was key for Peter and the Christians of his day. We are to “supplement” or “add to” our faith. We all know that it is important to supplement one’s diet with nutritious choices; stay away from sugars and processed foods and eat your veggies. The same is true spiritually. We must stay away from so called spiritual fads promising quick and easy results and supplement and add to our spiritual diets wisely; goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love... We must remember that we cannot do what God does (salvation), and that God will not do what we have to do (obedience). We cannot save ourselves; but God will not give us good habits or godly character. We have to do all that ourselves, we have to work out the salvation God has worked in. This is especially true in confirming one’s calling. In other words, if we are true to our faith and practicing what we preach then we will be fruitful and see our callings fulfilled -

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:10-11).

In Application

I would like to suggest something personal today in the application of the message and in light of the Scripture 2 Peter 1:3-11. In our journey of faith towards our calling and destiny we have joys and challenges. Peter writes to believers in his day and gives then a list to reach for in attaining the goal of their salvation.

In light of your faith walk, what are some of the supplements that you are add to your faith in order to confirm your calling. I am not re-writing Scripture but asking you to identify some of the challenges you face personally and then to respond in the opposite spirit.

This little exercise will help you focus on what the Spirit is working on in your life in order to help you reach the fullness of your calling.

Confirm your Calling

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith…2 Pet 1:3–5.

Let’s Pray…