The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:00 reading from NIV Genesis CH 12 the Lord had said to Abram go from your country
00:06 your people and your father's household to the land I will show you I will make you into a great nation and I will bless
00:13 you I will make your name great and you will be a blessing I will bless those
00:18 who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on Earth will be blessed through you so Abram went as
00:27 the Lord told him and lot went with him ABR was 75 years old when he set out
00:32 from heran he took his wife Sarai his nephew lot all the possessions they had
00:37 accumulated and the people they had acquired in heran and they set out for the land of Canaan and they arrived
00:44 there Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of morare at seeum at that time the
00:51 Canaanites were in the land the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your Offspring I will give this land so he
00:58 built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him from there he went on
01:03 towards the hills of beel and pitched his t with Bethel on the west and AI on
01:09 the East there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord
01:14 then Abram sat out and continued toward the nger now there was a famine in the land
01:20 and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe as he was about to enter Egypt he
01:27 said to his wife Sarah I know what the beautiful woman you are when the
01:32 Egyptians see you they will say this is his wife then they will kill me but
01:38 would let you live say you are my sister so that I will be treated well for your
01:43 sake and my life will be Spar because of you when Abram came to Egypt the
01:48 Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman and when Pharaoh's officials saw her they praised her to
01:55 pharaoh and she was taken into his Palace he treated Abram well for her sake and AB acquired sheep and cattle
02:02 male and female donkeys male and female servants and camels but the Lord
02:07 Afflicted serious diseases on pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarah so Pharaoh summoned Abram
02:15 what have you done to me he said why didn't you tell me she was your wife why
02:20 did you say she is my sister so that I took her to be my wife now then here is
02:26 your wife take her and go then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men and
02:32 they sent him on his way with his wife and everything he had the word of
02:37 God let's start with a word of prayer Lord we ask this morning that you've
02:42 gathered us together in so many different houses and so dispersed that
02:49 you're still here with us I pray a lord as we go into this chapter that you would draw us together by Your Word open
02:57 up our hearts to hear Thy word that Thy Word will do its work in our lives we ask for
03:04 Jus sake amen morning First Baptist we're going to continue our study into
03:10 the book of uh Genesis and today we finally come to chapter 12 remember
03:15 chapter 11 uh Samuel preached about the Rebellion the Tower of Babel and out of
03:22 that chaos comes one man whom God chooses who
03:27 is basically Abraham So today we're going to look at the specific verses where God calls Abraham and is a
03:35 fantastic Journey from the land of the calans and city of all the way to haran
03:40 and then down to uh the promised land as well but it's not just a physical
03:45 Journey it's also a spiritual journey now today we're going to talk in chapter 12 about three things about the call
03:52 there a lot of things you could say about the call but there only three things I would like us to focus on today one is the nature of God's call two the
04:00 promise of his call and three the challenge of the call now let's look at
04:05 the nature of the call we look at chapter 12 verses one now the Lord said
04:11 to Abraham go from your country your Kindred your father's house to the land
04:16 that I will show you here the call is personal God is speaking to Abraham
04:23 personally look at Joshua 24 Joshua said to all the people thus said the Lord the
04:29 god of Israel long ago your fathers live beyond Euphrates Tera the father of
04:34 Abraham and Nahar and they served other gods and here again he records the call
04:39 of Abraham went to him when he lived in the land of calans where Babylonia is uh
04:44 in the land beyond the Euphrates uh chapter 11 Tara took his son Abraham and
04:50 and and lot the son of haran the grandson and and Sarah his daughter-in-law and his son of his son
04:56 Abraham's wife and they went forth from Ur of caldin to go the land of can so here's the call where God calls Abraham
05:04 and Abraham is actually from this call is the father of actually three faiths the Jewish faith Christian faith and the
05:09 Muslim faith um and so today we're going to be talking about the call about our
05:14 call when God calls us and when you actually talk about call if you look at the Miriam Webster dictionary it's been
05:20 watered down the secular idea of a call is is a vocation a job a profession in
05:26 which one engages in or perhaps a strong impulse towards a particular course of
05:32 action when accompanied by a conviction of divine influence now Oprah Winfrey um
05:38 you know secular person not a Christian she says the call actually defines us if you're breathing you have a contribution
05:45 to make no matter what background age color creed religion or gender we all have been called to Earth at this time
05:51 for the authentic expression of who we are and the gifts we are here to give so she's saying that the calling defines us
05:59 who we are is defined by what we do and what gifts we have to offer and you look
06:04 at this study in the United States of doctors and psychiatrists and you can look at and ask when you actually ask
06:10 them do they actually have a calling to this particular profession and of course the the folk who are basically are
06:16 religious who are Jewish or who who are Catholic or Hindu they all actually Express the fact they actually have an
06:21 inner calling but the interesting thing is that even if you're a even if you don't believe in God they have a sense
06:28 of calling 26% of people now the psychologists talk about the concept of
06:33 flow flow is a psychological state which you actually feel like you're in the
06:39 zone when you're actually doing something that is what your calling is
06:44 when you're perfectly fit you're in such a here is a songwriter who actually writes you're in such an ecstatic State
06:51 uh as though you don't almost almost don't exist uh you have you don't experience time and and my hands seem
06:58 devoid of myself and nothing to do with what is happening I just I just sit there watching it in a state of awe and
07:05 wonderment and the music just flows out by itself and many songwriters tell you at that particular moment in time they
07:11 just when they're writing a song the flow Right comes out in about 10 minutes uh so that's a concept of flow here's a
07:17 testimony from an Olympic skater and she says it was one of those programs that just clicked I mean everything went
07:23 right everything felt good it's such a rush that you feel it could go on and on like you don't want it to stop because
07:30 it's all going so well it's almost as if you don't have to think here's an Olympic skater um this is how flow Works
07:38 psychologically if you look at the graph here there basically on one axis the difficulty of your task on the other
07:44 axis here is the skills that you have perhaps if you've got a high degree of
07:50 skill and you've got a simple job maybe a clar's job you'll find that you're
07:56 either apathetic or you're bored or you're actually relaxed if you've got a very difficult job where
08:03 it requires a high level of skill and actually you have very low level skills you're going to be very very anxious so
08:09 you got to acquire more skills so that you get aroused and finally you reach the magical Point here is flow
08:16 psychologically flow is where you want to be where you've got your matching between the difficulty of your job and
08:22 the skills that you actually have so if you actually are here when you have a
08:28 very difficult job and you don't have enough skills all you have to do is improve yourself so you get to this zone or youve got very high amount of skill
08:35 but you've got a job that's not very challenging you want to move from here to here change job get a better job in
08:42 terms of the one that challenges you and then you reach this optimal state of life so perhaps calling is defined by
08:51 how you feel what kind of job that you do Michael Phelps actually uh the world's greatest
08:58 Olympians you're the top thought that he's got the greatest skill and the highest um kind of uh difficulty winning
09:05 Olympic gold bals he actually testified that really after every Olympics I think I fell into a major state of depression
09:12 I didn't want to be in the sport anymore I don't want to be alive anymore he actually tried to commit suicide you see
09:19 you can't be in that zone all the time when you're off the Zone you'll find
09:24 that you run into depression so how is our calling determined well for a lot of
09:29 people it depends on what gender you are if you're a lady then you're the certain kind of occupations that you do or class
09:36 or race or some people think it's your personality type your your genetic Constitution but all these things
09:42 removes this idea of individualism and also removes this idea of your own personal effort it just binds you in as
09:49 it were so some people say we could write our own songs our own script we
09:54 could be whatever we want to be so look at U Winston Churchill for example when
09:60 the time the Nazis were threatening Europe he was actually appointed prime minister by King George I 6 and this
10:06 what he said on May 10th of 1940 I felt as if I was I was walking with Destiny
10:12 and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial so you felt he's calling
10:20 everything that made Winston Churchill this kind of person this prime minister at this time was in preparation for this
10:27 great crisis of which he actually led the British Nation out of World War II look at him in this quotation years
10:34 later on just before he died and he said I'm bored with it all the journey has
10:40 been enjoyable well worth making once so calling isn't what it's cut out to be um
10:48 and in fact this is a a book book by a New South Wales nurse Australian nurse who looked at many of the patients who
10:56 she actually nurs who were dying and they describe at the end of their lives
11:01 some the chief regrets for CH Chief regret I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself not the life
11:09 others expected of me I wish I had worked I had worked so hard I wish I had
11:15 the courage to express my feelings you see you could do your own call find your
11:21 own calling but the end of life you might not be that satisfied the problem
11:26 is that when we think about call Our Calling our the calling is independent of the caller we're only interested what
11:33 we want to do not who calls us to do what and it's intrinsically selfish we even look at what our gifts can bring to
11:41 us ourselves and we want other people to applaud us even a world famous musician
11:47 Wolf Gang amadas B and he said I'm never in Good Humor he's not happy when I'm in
11:52 a town where I'm quite unknown he lives for the Applause of people all the time
11:58 Ernest Becker is a is a uh Anthropologist psych psychological Anthropologist who actually wrote that
12:05 pitza prize-winning book called the denial death and actually in that particular group book which is basically
12:12 groundbreaking at that time he said that most of civilization all our culture is
12:17 developed because we want to avoid the awful dilemma of death and this puts our
12:24 calling into perspective he he describes men as literally split into two he has
12:29 an awareness of his own Splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering Majesty that's
12:36 what Ernest Becker said were so wonderful we got all these wonderful gifts and power and yet for all our
12:42 calling you actually have yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order
12:47 to blindly and dumbly rot and disappear forever so no matter how clever you are
12:54 how well called you are how suited your job the problem is in the end you wind
12:60 up the ground let me take for example two of the cleverest men that ever Liv one was Albert Einstein you know he he
13:06 was a brilliant scientist contributed to to to science tremendously and a lot of things that we see today is a result of
13:12 his theories and his efforts his IQ was 200 the average graduate from college is
13:19 about 120 his was 200 there a man called William Silas his IQ was 250 to 300 you
13:26 know what happened to William Silas William Silas died in obscure security age of 43 in a New York office and he
13:33 was just a Clark but if you put them both together they both wind up back in
13:38 the ground a few feet blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever so that's
13:44 the Dilemma that we actually face you see there's no real calling in life
13:50 unless there's a caller unless somebody actually calls us we don't discover this
13:56 on our own Acts chapter 15 Paul talks to pagans in Athens he made from one man
14:03 every nation of mankind to live on the face of the Earth having determined a lot of times and boundaries of their
14:08 dwelling place and that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way towards
14:13 him and find him see God created us each and every one of us that we may seek him
14:19 when he calls us the call is personal Acts chapter 7:2 Steven said brothers
14:26 and sisters hear me the god God of Glory appeared to Our Father Abraham when he
14:33 was in Mesopotamia see the god of Glory encounters Abraham personally and each
14:39 of the prophets you can see in the old Isaiah Isaiah chapter 6 had a personal Encounter of God was that was so
14:46 astounding that that they actually took his breath away uh Ezekiel when he was called also had a vision of who God is
14:54 now Abraham Genesis chapter 17 when Abraham was 99 years old the Lord appeared to
15:01 Abraham and said to him I am God Almighty walk before me and be blameless
15:06 that I might make my Covenant between you and may multiply you greatly see the word there I am God Almighty walk before
15:14 me so when we are called the most important thing that people forget it's not just a profession it's just not
15:20 something that you do you are called to walk before one person and that is the
15:26 only person that is our destiny not a job um in the New Testament the call is
15:32 actually equivalent to Salvation Mark 3:13 and he went up on the mountain and called to him those who he desired and
15:40 they came to him these were disciples in fact the word the Greek word for church is eaia eclesia comes from two root
15:48 words e which is basically out of or from and Calo which is called so a
15:55 disciple a Christian is someone who's called out of we are all like Abraham
16:00 hear God's call and when we follow his call we are saved see our primary calling as followers of Christ is by him
16:08 to him for him first and foremost we are called to someone God not something as a
16:14 motherhood or politics or teaching and to somewhere we are called to God and that is something that we must not
16:21 forget the call is personal that's why if you Jesus was talking in the sermon
16:26 Mount about the hypocrisy and it's and you look in Matthew chapter 6 beware of practicing your righteousness before
16:32 other people in order to be seen by them for you have no reward from your father who is in heaven so no point praying in
16:38 front of people no point giving arms in front of people you know why because they're not important you need to be
16:44 giving it only in the sight of one person God because if you give it so that others will see it is no point
16:52 because the reward comes from your father in Heaven truly I say to you that
16:58 they have received their reward but when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand is
17:04 doing so that your giving may be in secret and your father who who sees in secret will reward you so this is secret
17:12 this is why why is it secret it's secret because this is a calling from a caller
17:17 to each and every single one it is a personal faith calling allows us to
17:24 discern the times go back to the Book of Esther this is the story of a a young
17:29 girl won a competition Beauty competition and was actually chosen to be Queen of Persia and she enjoyed the
17:37 good life as a queen until one day the the the the her own countrymen the Jews were being threatened threatened with
17:44 permanent genocide from evil man called Haman and uh her uncle morai came and
17:52 beseeched her to basically do something and he challenges her and he says to her
17:57 chapter 4:14 for if you keep silent at this time relief and deliverance will
18:03 rise for the Jews from another place but you and your father's house will perish
18:08 and who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this morai is telling
18:14 Esther this is why you are queen God has put you in this place need to discern
18:22 the times this is your moment in history that you could do something because you could reach out to the king even though
18:28 there's R so she's able to discern the times because she actually has a she
18:34 recognized her Queen being a queen was actually a calling 1 Chronicles 12:32 of
18:40 ishaka men who had understanding of times to know what Israel ought to do
18:45 200 Chiefs and all their Kinsmen under the command here you actually have people who understood the times brothers
18:52 and sisters we need to understand the times here's an article by Malaysian
18:58 Christian leaders guidance for the church in the Corona virus era it's a very interesting article which you
19:03 actually get hands on to read and they see the Corona virus era coming and to many people it is a terrible
19:10 inconvenience it's a terrible disaster because they lose their livelihood uh they may lose their lives it is
19:16 disrupting the way we live but these church leaders have gotten together and they actually are able to discern the
19:23 times what to do during Co era what is God doing God is Not Just interrupting
19:29 your and inconveniencing your trajectory in your career even the covid-19 crisis has
19:36 opportunities and if we actually have a calling from God we able to discern what is God doing what is why is God allowing
19:44 this virus to come and what can what part are we to play in the kingdom of
19:49 God during this particular time now she responded to the caller with Clarity and
19:54 courage this is what Esther did she told them to reply to modai go gather all the Jew to be found in Souza and hold a fast
20:01 on my behalf and do not eat or drink for three days at night and I and my young women will also fast as you do then I
20:07 will go to the king though it is against the law and if I perish I perish here the first thing that she does she
20:14 doesn't calculate the likelihood of which she's going to get killed she doesn't calculate how many Jews she
20:19 could save she doesn't look at any other way what she does is she calls a fast
20:24 she's not calling a fast so you can reduce weight you know when she calls a fast you means she's praying she's
20:31 praying with her young women she's asking all the Jews in the entire nation to pray why because she responds to the
20:38 caller the caller has called her for this moment then the caller is the one who called her will provide her the way
20:44 the opportunity the courage to do what she needs to do so understanding that we
20:49 are called allows us to discern the times to respond to the caller with
20:55 Clarity and courage next we're going to look at at the promise of the call you
21:00 look at uh the Lord said to Abraham go from your country your Kindred your
21:06 father's house to the land I will show you here you have seen Abraham being removed from everything that he was
21:13 familiar with everything which he grew up with in fact he was actually a pagan he served other gods Joshua chapter 24
21:21 he they served other gods idol worship he was asked to leave his idols leave his home leave everything that he knew
21:29 family culture country God and embrace something completely different it was
21:35 just not just a one-time deal he could have made the decision but it's a journey leaving everything that he knew
21:42 to embrace everything that is that is basically what God has promised a promise of children many children a
21:50 Prosper a progeny that will build of a Nation a land and influence on all of
21:57 humanity this is the same Journey we make when we become Christians we are asked to leave sin leave the way we've
22:05 lived before living for ourselves the influence of our family our culture our country leave a kind of life that we've
22:11 lived in that that that basically made up of decisions that made independent of God where the center of your selfworth
22:18 is yourself or the of the accolades of others now we're supposed to embrace God where you actually live because you're
22:25 called by the one God you live to please that one God you live according to the Norms of the Kingdom which means blessed
22:31 are those who are poor in spirit who mourn who hunger and thirst for righteous a whole complete different set
22:38 of values your hope is no longer based on what this world can offer you it is
22:43 based on new heavens and new earth and your blessing the last thing is basically a mission that we will be a
22:48 blessing to all of humanity and and this is so radical that Jesus tells them if anyone comes to me and does not hate his
22:55 own father mother wife children Brothers and sisters yes even his own life they cannot be my disciple the the word hate
23:02 is used to as to describe the difference between your love for God and His
23:08 purposes compared to your former love for your former culture and family it's
23:13 so different that that described as hate and so therefore the promise of God's call is a promise is a call to
23:19 particular purpose you can see God's Redemptive purposes in Creation in humanity the fall chapter three man
23:26 fails God blesses by promising a seed flood man fails it is punished by flood
23:33 and then God promises to dwell in the tents of Shem Humanity fails again in Tower of
23:40 Babel and they rebel against God and now God provides Abraham with the promise to
23:45 bless all of humanity I want to take a look at the two passages side by side the first part
23:53 of Genesis chap 11 and then the first part of chapter 12 first part chapter 11 describes the rebellion and then they
23:59 said let us build ourselves a city a tower with the top in the heavens let us
24:04 make a name for ourselves lest we be dispersed all over the face of the whole earth here you have the face of
24:10 rebellion a life live for ourselves it's consisted of us doing if you look at
24:16 chapter 12 it's completely different God chooses one man and he says to one man go to the land I will show you that I
24:23 will make of you a great nation I will bless you I will make your name great so that you will be blessing and I will
24:29 bless those who bless you see the focus on the other side in Genesis 12 completely different from chapter 11 11
24:36 is us doing chapter 12 is God doing God doing and US responding and that's what
24:42 faith is is responding to God's initiative that's the call of Life the
24:47 call of life is to a journey from our past to our present now if you look at
24:53 this uh study this is a the the first study that came out to looked at the meaning of life versus
24:59 how rich you are on one axxis you've got meaning of life this is very high
25:04 meaning very low meaning and the other one is the GDP per capita ratio here and
25:09 if 132 nations were were actually uh sampled and if you look on this end
25:15 Syria Leon Ethiopia the poorest in terms of gbt GDP per capita income actually
25:23 have the highest meaning of life which me people there in poorer countries actually have a high sense of a greater
25:29 sense of meaning of life even though they're poor and if you look at the richest Nations you look down here it's
25:35 France Spain JP Japan uh uh Hong Kong very rich and yet very low on the
25:42 meaning of life so let's look at the study's conclusion as Society becomes
25:48 wealthier religion becomes less Central and when it's less Central more people
25:54 lose a sense of meaning so religion a sense of a creator having called people
26:00 gives people more meaning life not money uh they actually uh looked at the second
26:07 conclusion that meaning life predicted the suicide rate which means the lower the meaning of life the higher the
26:13 suicide rate well life satisfaction did not if a government wants to increase its resident meaning in life and prevent
26:18 suicide then improving economic Prosperity does not seem to help achieve these goals because the poorest
26:25 countries actually highest meaning of life and meaning of life actually ICT suicide rates so this is tells us the
26:32 importance of meaning life and calling in all our lives this is Emily
26:38 asahan Smith who wrote A bestselling book called The Power of meaning she says there are four pillars in
26:45 Psychology that actually give people meaning in Life or a purpose or a sense
26:50 of a call it's belonging a purpose a storytelling and
26:56 Transcendence and and if you look at one Peter chapter 2 the people of God called
27:02 people people with a sense of calling have the most of that if you look one Peter chapter 2 says you are a chosen
27:08 race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession all those
27:14 words chosen race Royal PRI describes the sense of belonging there's a purpose you are chosen as a holy nation so that
27:21 you may proclaim the excellencies of God bring his glory out as storytelling we
27:26 are part of a bigger purpose here you are out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light once you were not a people now you
27:32 are God's people once you have not received Mercy now you have received Mercy that's our story that's our story
27:39 on the scale of History this is a picture of EMA nanka
27:44 who was basically a u a professional football player 6'4 and one day he
27:51 actually fell during a tackle and he broke his neck wound up in hospital
27:56 paralyzed permanently with spinal cord snapped and as he laid in hospital he always wondered what was going to happen
28:03 to him how is he going to earn a living was he ever going to get married which woman want him would he have children
28:08 would he have a future his whole world came crashing around he had all these things planned out for his world for his
28:14 life and basically lost his meaning of until he started to
28:20 volunteer in his church share with other people about his disabilities and he
28:25 slowly looked his life with a different pair lens the same tragedy the same
28:32 fracture the same paralysis but seen through a different light and he concluded these words by injury doesn't
28:39 Define me it's not who I am it's just something that happened to me I'm
28:44 defined by how I've responded to my injury here's a man who's able to retell
28:51 his story that gives purpose and meaning to his life he writes it wasn't until I started serving people that a light came
28:58 on and he said I realize who I really am today I'm someone who tries to put other
29:03 people first service in his church to other people first he described to
29:09 himself you know I was climbing the wrong mountain when he broke his neck he fell down from that mountain to Rock
29:15 Bottom and then he discovered Another Mountain the mountain he was supposed to be climbing all along the in the first
29:21 place they contained his true path that he been slowly climbing that mountain
29:26 ever since and that is this discovering our true call and when we understand our true call we will be able to tell our
29:33 story from the eyes of God not how the as as far as the world is concerned EMA is a washed up paralyzed ex football
29:40 player that's all he'll ever be known but EMA has discovered his true calling
29:45 in life this the uh Ernest Becker Ernest Becker describes the fact that we've got
29:50 this Paradox where were wonderful Noble human beings with all these gifts in the end we die how do we make sense of he
29:58 actually describes the person who can make sense of it is person described as the Knight of Faith this figure is a man
30:05 who lives in faith who has given over the meaning of life of his life to his
30:10 creator who lives centered on the energies of his creator he accepts what happens in this visible Dimension
30:16 without complaint lives his life as a duty faces death without a qual no pett
30:23 is so petty that it threatens his meaning no task is too frightening to be Beyond his courage is full in the world
30:29 on its terms and holy beyond the world in his trust in The Invisible Dimension
30:35 this is the night of faith and here is a testimony from a non-Christian be was never a Christian and yet he described
30:41 the only way we're going to get out of this dilemma is to understand that we should be having faith living a life of
30:47 faith and that as the last Dimension which is Transcendence this is Paul he described himself he doesn't want to
30:53 look back in the past one thing I do forgetting what lies behind straining on on towards lies ahead the challenge of
30:60 the call is a journey he's describing his journey but journey is different I pressed on towards the goal of the
31:05 uprise of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus if you live a life of just
31:10 a calling on your own gifts without the caller you are just going to be going round and round and round Paul is on an
31:17 upward trajectory he's called by God towards a direction of the Kingdom that will result in eternal life Ernest
31:25 Becker writes religion takes one's very crat do one's insignificance and makes
31:30 it a condition of Hope what is ideal for the mental health then a lived compelling illusion that does not lie
31:37 about life death and reality well he describes it as an illusion because he's not a Christian but we believe it as
31:44 true because we are people of Faith the only way that the only thing that take us out of the hopelessness of death is
31:50 actually a calling finding our calling so we've done the nature of the
31:56 call the prise of the call and now we look at the last section which is the challenge of the call if you look this
32:03 is the challenge the challenge of call is that when God calls us he calls us to follow unconditionally the Lord said to
32:09 AB Abraham go from your country your Kindred your father's house to the land that I will show you he doesn't even
32:14 tell him where it is Hebrews chapter 8 by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go to a place that he was to
32:20 receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going imagine leaving everything behind
32:26 there's no highways you don't know whether you're hotel or BNB when you arrive you don't know whether is a future whether is a job whether is a way
32:33 to earn a living the destination has given that is the challenge the challenge to take God at his word and
32:41 God progressively displays to him reveals the what's going to happen there's a covenant initiation at uh
32:48 chapter 12 12 and 15 there's a ceremony 17 there's coven sign which is circumstan God reveals to him slowly bit
32:55 by bit he doesn't tell him everything at one go the challenge to call look at Hebrews chapter 119 to10 by faith he
33:02 went to live in a Land Of Promise as in a foreign land living intense so when he went to forign went to Canaan there
33:09 wasn't huge crowds welcoming him oh Abraham good to see you finally you can have my house no he went to a foreign
33:16 land they didn't accept him they were hostile to him he W he wasn't living in a mansion he went to the promis land he
33:21 was living in a tent that's the challenge but yet he could see even though I'm living in the tent
33:28 it is still the land which God is going to give me and when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac this is what he said in
33:35 verse 19 Hebrews chapter 11 he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead from which
33:42 figuratively speaking he did receive him back which means he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac because he
33:48 believed the kind of faith that God was able to resurrect his son and and Jesus said of Abraham your
33:56 father Abraham rejoice voice that he would see my day he saw it and was glad
34:04 do you know what this means it means thousands of years ago Abraham could see
34:10 Jesus coming the Messiah coming not that he could literally see but with the eyes of Faith he could see that's the
34:17 challenge of the call we're called and challenge to something which we cannot see which only we could see with the
34:23 eyes of Faith here you have in Hebrews chapter 11 he was Abraham was looking forward to to a city that's got
34:29 foundations whose designer and Builder is God that was what he was looking he
34:35 had a dream he had a dream with eyes wide open it's like Martin Luther King
34:40 Jr when he described in the great March on Washington speech I have a dream that my four children one day live in a
34:46 nation where they will not be judged by the color of the skin but by but by the content of their character I have a
34:52 dream today I have a dream that one day each every Valley shall be exalted every Hill and Mountain shall be made low
34:58 rough places will be made plain the Crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed
35:04 and All Flesh will see it together this is our hope taken from Isaiah Martin Luther had a vision to see the world as
35:11 it should be that is the challenge of the call it was a great British uh uh um
35:19 revolutionary leader who was sent to help the Arabs and overthrow the the the the dictatorship of the Turks it was his
35:27 name was Lawrence of Arabia a man a great Visionary man and this is what he wrote all men dream but not equally
35:34 those who Dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the morning in the day and find it was
35:41 vanity disappears but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men for they act
35:46 on their dreams with open eyes to make it possible and this I did it says
35:52 there's a gap between the dream and reality the people who see with the eyes of Faith are able to close close the gap
35:59 between the dream and make that dream a reality that is the challenge of a call
36:05 for all of us the last thing about the challenge this call is that not only uh we we are to to to dream but we also to
36:12 trust God's grace C to a land which I will show you I will make of you I will
36:18 bless you see whatever it is it's God doing in US responding and and O
36:24 Guinness writes this about our calling where the primary calling is to God and he's talking about secondary calling the
36:30 truth is not that God is finding us a place for our gifts but that God has
36:35 created us and our gifts for a place of his choosing we will only be ourselves
36:42 when we are finally there which means where you are supposed to be where all
36:47 your gifts will fit in for a particular purpose God has created that right from
36:52 the beginning he knows what he has created us for we will only be happy when we find ourselves
36:58 there you know Michael Phelps which I've shared with you before greatest the greatest Olympian ever lived more gold
37:05 medals any other human being talks on the sharing experience
37:10 about suicide depression and you know what he says he says there's something
37:16 way more powerful when he say he now goes around speaking to CH to other
37:21 Youth and athletes about suicide and depression uh those moments and those
37:27 feelings those emotions for me are light years better than winning Olympic gold
37:33 battles so Michael Phelps was great with the Applause of all men winning all the
37:38 gold medals and all the money in the world but there's nothing compared to what he's doing now talking ministering
37:44 working with other folk to prevent suicide depression that is actually his
37:51 ultimate calling you see Moses in Jes chapter 3 the angel of the Lord appeared
37:56 to him in the flame of fire out of the beds of a bush he looked and behold the Bush was burning it was not consumed and
38:03 Moses said I will turn aside and see this great sight why the bush is not burned you see if we listen to God's
38:11 call if we respond to God's call the promise of his call you trust his grace
38:18 you take upon this challenge of the call upon your life his call like Moses
38:23 burning bush will set your life on fire I
38:28 remember when I became a Christian at the age of 17 there are two books that
38:35 actually changed my life and set the course of this calling right up to when
38:41 I'm now 61 years of age one was 10 fingers for God by uh by Paul bran a
38:48 leprosy surgeon who went as a missionary to India and dedicate his life to to
38:54 reconstructing leprosy hands it was wonderful because I I I I
38:59 loved that story and actually inspired me to take up surgery as a profession on the other hand was beautiful story of
39:06 John Sun John sun was an evangelist from China who came back to came Malaysia and
39:12 Southeast Asia many of the churches that actually set up here in Caan in SIU they're all the result of
39:19 the great evangelist John S who used to preach three four times a day and even when he was dying of tuberculosis at a
39:25 young age of about 40 he used to preach to everyone who came to see him he was described by Leslie Lyall who wrote this
39:31 book as a candle being burning on both ends and so therefore these are the
39:38 things that inspired me these are the things that helped chart my course that
39:43 this is what God wanted me to do to be a surgeon to embrace this calling that
39:49 will utilize my gifts as well as share the gospel to preach the gospel to minister the gospel in church and to all
39:55 those around this is this was my calling and I challenge all of us today that you would
40:04 listen and respond that God will come into your life and he will set your life
40:10 on fire that will you respond to his call the call will always involve the
40:16 gospel and all the gifts and situation that he has put you in May God touch your life and set you
40:25 on fire too let's pray father Lord we just thank you
40:33 for your word we thank you that you began the work in Genesis CH 12 with one man one
40:42 nation and now the gospel is gone out to All Nations and it's gone out to all men
40:49 and you are calling all men to yourselves and this grand plan we thank
40:54 you that we are part of that purpose I'm going to pray for every body who has listened to this sermon that your holy
41:00 spirit will touch each and every one of us that each of us will discover our call that our call is to you personally
41:07 to honor you to worship you to glorify you to live our lives for you with whatever we have our gifts our money our
41:15 position our country our culture to live within that system so that we may bring
41:22 glory and to show your marvelous Deeds of how we were once without Mercy and
41:27 now we have received Mercy we ask oh Lord that you transform us as a people powerfully able to be a blessing to the
41:36 world to the community to our families even through this
41:42 crisis help us to live with a kind of urgency and passion as lives set on fire
41:50 let us be burning bushes for you we ask for Jesus sake amen
41:58 [Music] [Applause] [Music]
42:25 hold it I am all that I
42:31 have I laid them down before you oh
42:38 Lord oh my regrets and oh my I
42:45 clim the joy and the pain I'm making them yours
42:53 [Music] Lord I offer my life to you everything I
43:06 and true use it for your glory Lord I offer my days to you
43:17 lifting my praise to you as a pleasing sacrifice
43:27 [Music] Lord I offer you my
43:35 [Music]
43:45 life things in the past things yet
43:52 unseen wishes and dreams that are yet to
43:57 come true all of my hopes and all of my
44:05 plans my heart and my hands I lift it to
44:14 you Lord I offer my life to you
44:21 everything I've been through use it For Your Glory
44:28 glor Lord I offer my days to you lifting
44:35 my pra to you as a pleasing
44:45 sacrifice Lord I offer you my
44:52 life what can we give that you have not not
44:59 GI what do we have that is not already
45:05 yours and how we possess all de lives we
45:10 are living that's what we give to you
45:19 lord lord I offer my life to you
45:26 everything I I've been true use it for your
45:33 glory Lord I offer my days to you
45:39 lifting my praise to you as a pleasing
45:50 sacrifice Lord I offer you my life
46:01 Lord I offer you
46:07 my [Music]
46:25 life let's have the benef Ben addiction father Lord we ask oh Lord as you dismiss us that this week will be a
46:32 wonderful week wonderful week because we are people of your calling open our our eyes to see opportunities to share your
46:39 gospel and to bring your gifts into play that mankind brothers sisters members of
46:46 our family and Community will be blessed by your presence in our lives as we move
46:51 and love our neighbor for we ask for Jesus sake amen
46:58 [Music]
47:12 the Lord bless you and keep
47:18 you make his face shine upon you and be
47:24 gracious to you the Lord turn this face toward
47:32 you and give you PE
47:44 [Music]
48:18 aen amen aen
48:24 [Music]
48:31 ahen Amen
48:41 aen to [Music]
48:58 Mo to [Music]
49:19 henen a [Music]
49:30 amen amen
49:37 [Music] aen
49:43 amen amen
49:52 amen aen
49:57 [Music] amen
50:05 [Music]
50:20 amen be upon you and a thousand Generations in your family and your
50:29 children and the children and the children fav be upon you and the
50:37 Thousand generations and your family and your
50:42 children and the children and the children may his favor be upon you and
50:50 His Thousand generations and your family and your
50:56 children the children children
51:18 [Music]
51:24 [Music] seee
51:35 [Music]
51:48 [Music]
52:00 amen
52:12 amen amen
52:18 amen amen may his Savor be upon you and th000
52:29 generations and your family and your children and your children and your
52:36 children may his presence go before you and behind you and beside you all around
52:44 you and within you he is with you he is with you in the morning in the evening
52:54 in you're coming and you're GL in your weeping and rejoicing he is for
53:02 you he is for you he is for you he's for
53:07 you he's for you he's for you he's for
53:12 you he's for you he's for you he's for
53:21 you oh he is
53:30 for you
