Hello, this is Brother Denny.
Welcome to Charity Ministries.
Our desire is that your life would be
blessed and changed by this message.
This message is not copyrighted and is not
to be bought or sold.
You are welcome to make copies for your
friends and neighbors.
If you would like additional messages, please go
to our website for a complete listing at
www.charityministries.com.
If you would like a catalog of other
sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or
write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street,
Suite 1, AFPA, 17522.
These messages are offered to all without charge
by the freewill offerings of God's people.
A special thank you to all who support
this ministry.
Greetings to every one of you this morning
in the precious name of Jesus, that blessed
Lamb of Calvary.
I greet you in His name.
It's for His sake that I'm here this
morning.
And I trust it's for His sake that
you've gathered here to worship with the saints
that the name of our dear Jesus might
be lifted up.
Truly, He is worthy for us to bow
at His feet, humbly at His feet I
bow.
I do bring you greetings also from Zion
Christian Fellowship in Wellman, Iowa.
And just give you our greetings in the
name of Jesus.
It's the same Lord we serve wherever we
are.
And truly, He is worthy to be praised
this morning.
It was a bit of a last minute
decision for me to come for this week
of Bible school, but I praise God that
He opened the way for me to come.
And I do look forward to the things
that He has this week for myself as
well as the young people.
And it brings back many memories as I
reflected on the time I was that age,
from the years fifteen through twenty.
And I'm sure I may even refer to
more of that here in the message.
This morning to open up the message, to
introduce it, I would like to read a
number of scriptures.
I won't give you the title immediately, but
I have a number of scriptures here that
speak to the subject.
They all have a common theme, and they're
mostly just single verses, sometimes two or three,
but they all have one common message.
And I would like for you to listen,
and you will quickly pick up, I'm sure,
what the message is in these verses.
And I do want the power of the
Word of God to impress it on your
heart.
And that's why I'm reading these verses.
I won't even give you the references necessarily.
I'm just going to read down through a
number of verses.
The first one I'll start with is in
John 10.3, the words of Jesus speaking
of Himself.
To Him the porter openeth, and the sheep
hear His voice, and He calleth His own
sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His
purpose, unto the church of God which is
at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all
that in every place call upon the name
of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and
ours.
God is faithful, by whom ye were called
unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech
you that ye walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called.
There is one body and one spirit, even
as ye are called in one hope of
your calling.
And let the peace of God rule in
your hearts, to the which also ye are
called in one body, and be ye thankful
that ye would walk worthy of God who
hath called you unto His kingdom and glory.
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness,
but unto holiness.
But we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto He called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold
on eternal life whereunto thou art also called,
and hast professed a good profession before many
witnesses.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God,
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 faith, Abraham, when he was called to
go out into a place which he should
after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he
went out not knowing whither he went.
But as he which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy in all manner
of conversation.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that
ye should show forth the praises of Him
who hath called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light.
But the God of all grace, who hath
called us unto His eternal glory by Christ
Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while,
make you perfect, establish strength, and settle you
according as His divine power hath given unto
us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness.
Through the knowledge of Him that hath called
us to glory and virtue.
And the last one, Revelation 19.9, And
he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they
which are called unto the marriage supper of
the Lamb.
And he saith unto me, These are the
true sayings of God.
God is calling this morning.
You have been called by God.
And that is the title of my message,
Called by God.
And if you were listening this morning thus
far in the opening, God was calling.
God is calling each one of us.
And I trust as I preach the Word
of God this morning and as you were
listening to these verses, that God will call
you and continue to call.
For some of you, the message this morning
in the opening may have been a call
to salvation.
For some of you, it may have been
a call to a deeper walk with God
in your own personal life.
And perhaps God is calling you to lay
everything else aside and spell out for God
in all of your life.
But there is a call on your life.
And this message is going to apply particularly
to young people, but it's good for all
of us because I am still hearing God's
call.
And I trust I will as long as
I live to hear God's call.
And I want to say yes.
And I encourage you today to say yes
when God calls you.
I have five main points here in this
message that just show us different aspects of
God's call.
I know God has called me in a
number of different ways and in a number
of different circumstances.
And I believe He will continue to do
that.
So, some of these different ways apply to
you at different times of your life, but
all of them are things you need to
be aware of about God's call.
We need to always say yes when God
calls.
The first point I have is that God
calls us out of darkness.
One verse I read there in 1 Peter,
that He are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that
ye should show forth the praises of Him
who hath called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light.
And that's the first point this morning, is
that God calls us out of darkness into
His marvelous light.
And I call that the call to salvation.
The call to salvation.
God called me to salvation when I was
15 years old.
And that's when I was born again, because
God called my life at 15.
And I'd like to tell you today, if
you're 15, it's not too early to give
your heart to God.
I should have started earlier.
Today, I know of 15-year-olds who
have their hearts set to serve the Lord
God.
They have made their calling and election sure.
They have been born again and are serving
God to the best of their strength.
I know of other 15-year-olds who
have yet resisted God and have not been
saved.
But I'm telling you, it's not too early
to begin.
You can start even before, long before you're
15.
But I'd also say it's not too late,
if you're far past 15, to give your
heart to God and to answer His call
to salvation.
God calls us out of darkness.
Oh, we heard this morning about the darkness
that people sit in.
They know they're going the wrong way, but
they have no one to tell them the
right way.
God is calling out of darkness, out of
sin, out of a life of just sold
out for self and following the flesh.
And God is calling us out of that,
out of darkness.
Yes, there is much distress, turmoil of heart
and conscience, as we heard from the lesson
to the children.
The conscience pricks us, tells us when we're
going wrong.
But oh, the darkness that we're under if
we have not yet heeded God's call to
salvation.
And as I was listening to the young
people here, and they were saying about these
people who had never heard the right way.
And I think of how often God has
called us and shown us the right way.
And woe be to us if we neglect
to heed that call.
And don't listen when God calls us.
Why should God call us 20 times when
He hasn't called them once?
Will God's Spirit always strive with man?
No, God wants us to answer His call.
Today is the day of salvation.
God is calling us out of darkness into
His marvelous light.
The second point I have is that it
is a holy calling.
Let me just read a few of those
verses again.
But as He which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy in all manner
of conversation.
And again, He says, who hath saved us
and called us with a holy calling.
And I'd like to lift up that fact
that it's a holy calling.
It's a calling away from the carnality that
we find ourselves in in the old man.
He calls us to a holy life.
It says that God has not called us
to uncleanness, but unto holiness.
We no longer live after the lusts of
the flesh.
The time past of our life may suffice
us to have wrought the will of the
Gentiles.
But now we serve the living God.
And we put away the works of the
flesh and live for God.
It's a holy calling.
And I call that God's call to sanctification.
God doesn't want you to wallow in a
half-hearted Christian life and a defeated life.
God is calling you to a purity of
life, a holy way of life, willing to
put away the flesh and sin and serve
God with all your heart.
The third point is that this calling of
God is an upward call.
It's a heavenly call.
I'd like to read from Philippians 3.14.
He says, I press toward the mark for
the prize of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus.
That term, high calling, has the thought of
an upward calling.
And in Hebrews 3.1, he tells us,
wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the apostle and high priest of our
profession, Christ Jesus.
And I'd like to urge upon you this
heavenly calling.
It calls us away from this earth and
the things that bog us down and ensnare
us.
And I so appreciated what the Cooper family
shared there in a young man who gets
caught up in the pursuits of life and
he forgets the realities of life, the true
spiritual and eternal realities, and rather gets caught
up with that which is temporal.
But you know the things that are seen
are temporal and they will pass away.
All of these things that we hold so
tightly at times, the material things, you know
we've been reminded if you've been hearing the
news that those go up in smoke very
quickly.
They will not last forever, so let's not
set our heart on them.
But let's serve the living God.
It is a heavenly calling.
And I'd just like to urge you, especially
young people in the early years of your
life, set your sights on a heavenly calling,
not on this earth.
I was so blessed by the young people
sharing this morning about their labors in Africa
and the heart they had to preach the
Word of God.
I would have loved to see that when
I was that age.
It would have been worth traveling a thousand
miles to see it and hear it, the
testimony of those who are sold out for
God.
And I would urge that for all of
you.
You don't have to go to Africa to
have that same heart, but just know that
God is calling you to a heavenly calling
to lay aside the things of this earth
and to press into the work of God,
wherever He calls you, whether it's here or
abroad in some other nation.
But God is calling, clearly calling.
I say don't settle for a life with
no purpose or vision in spiritual realities.
There is much in so-called Christianity today
which seems like Christianity just becomes something like
a hobby.
You just sort of do it when it
suits you and when you have time.
But that is not what God is calling
you to.
He's calling you to sell out your life
to serve Him with all of your heart,
soul, strength and mind for all of your
days.
Leave behind the foolish and frivolous things of
life.
Don't fill your mind with the novels that
are so easily picked up today, but fill
it with the Word of God.
You will never regret the time you spend
memorizing this Word.
It becomes rich and it makes an impact
on your heart that will never go away
if you do it by the Spirit of
the living God.
Make it a part of your life.
Memorize that Word, and like David said, that
Word that's hidden in your heart will cause
you not to sin against God.
You will be able to, like Joseph, when
he was faced with a grievous temptation, he
said, How can I do this great wickedness
and sin against God?
And when you hide this Word of God
in your heart, that same reality is there.
That Word stands as a shield when you're
tempted.
How can I do this thing and grieve
my God?
My God says I should do thus and
so, and you have that Word hidden in
your heart.
In your youth, set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth.
And I think, oh, what more I could
have done for God if I would have
seen that example in my youth.
You know, of setting the affection on heavenly
things.
And I can't blame others.
I can only blame myself for not seizing
it and going with it, but I just
urge all of you, set your affection on
heavenly things and go for the high calling
of God, not a low calling, a high
calling of God.
The fourth point I have is that it
is a personal call.
This call is personal for every one of
us.
Don't think that God will just pass you
by and let the big jobs go to
someone else.
God has something for every one of us
to do.
Whether it's big or small in the eyes
of man is not what counts, but it's
what your calling of God is.
And when you do it faithfully, God sees
that as big things.
It may not look like a lot to
men, but you must have your heart set
to serve the living God all the days
of your life, and God will fill your
life with fruitful things and opportunities to serve.
And I'd like to spend a good bit
of time on this point here, a personal
call of God.
Let's just read again this verse from John
10, 3, where Jesus said, And to him
the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his
voice, and he calleth his own sheep by
name.
Did you get that?
By name, God calls them and leadeth them
out.
God knows your name, and God has a
purpose for your life.
Don't doubt it, my friend.
Don't doubt it.
If you're here and you're not saved, God
is calling you, first of all, to salvation.
And if you're here and you are saved,
and perhaps in your youth you're wondering, well,
what is God's call on my life?
What major work does God want me to
put my hands to?
And those are good and valid questions for
youth to be asking.
God does have a personal call upon each
one of you for a work that he
has.
And I'd like to talk about that a
bit, because God wants you.
The call that I'm sounding forth here by
the preaching of the Gospel, the call that
came from the testimony of the young people
this morning, it's not just for the group,
it's for you as an individual.
God is sending out His call for you.
And I say, sit up and take notice,
because God has a good plan for your
life.
It is a personal call, and it is
also a call that is according to His
purpose.
And that's an important point.
God calls us, not after our own will,
and not after our own works, but according
to His purpose.
Let me read that again in Romans 8,
28.
And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His
purpose.
We've been called to His fellowship.
He calls us to walk worthy of that
vocation.
And it seemed to me I had another
verse on that, but I don't have it
marked here.
But it is according to the purpose of
God.
It's not according to our own works, but
it's according to His purpose.
Now, youth particularly may ask themselves, what is
God's purpose for my life?
I'd like to take you now to 1
Samuel, if you would turn with me to
that passage there in 1 Samuel chapter 3,
where God called Samuel.
1 Samuel chapter 3, beginning at verse 1
through 10.
And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord
before Eli.
And the word of the Lord was precious
in those days, there was no open vision.
And it came to pass at that time
when Eli was laid down in his place,
and his eyes began to wax dim that
he could not see.
And ere the lamp of God went out
in the temple of the Lord, where the
ark of God was, and Samuel was laid
down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel,
and he answered, Here am I.
And he ran unto Eli and said, Here
am I, for thou callest me.
And he said, I called not.
Lie down again.
And he went and lay down.
And the Lord called yet again, Samuel.
And Samuel arose and went to Eli and
said, Here am I, for thou didst call
me.
And he answered, I called not, my son.
Lie down again.
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord,
neither was the word of the Lord yet
revealed unto him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third
time.
And he arose and went to Eli and
said, Here am I, for thou didst call
me.
And Eli perceived that the Lord had called
the child.
Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down,
and it shall be, if he call thee,
that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy
servant heareth.
So Samuel went and lay down in his
place.
And the Lord came and stood and called
us at other times, Samuel, Samuel.
Then Samuel answered, Speak, for thy servant heareth.
And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I
will do a thing in Israel, at which
both the ears of every one that heareth
it shall tingle.
And so on.
Here is this familiar passage of Samuel being
called by God.
God had a personal call on Samuel's life,
and he called him by name.
Now you may not hear an audible voice
of God, but that doesn't mean that God
isn't calling you.
But here Samuel was privileged, and there are
some who have been privileged down through time
to hear an audible call from God.
Even to this present time, occasionally some will
hear a call from God.
But not everyone does, and that doesn't mean
that you have not been called by God.
I'd like to note a few things in
Samuel's life here.
First of all, Samuel was dedicated to the
work of the Lord.
You recall the story of how his mother
prayed for a son and promised that he
would be dedicated to the work of the
Lord if God would just give her a
son.
And God granted her request and gave her
a son, and she brought him to the
temple.
And it says here in the first verse,
And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord
before Eli.
Now it does say in verse 7 that
Samuel did not yet know the Lord.
He didn't know Him in a personal way.
But he did serve the Lord before Eli
as he was helping there in the temple.
He was ministering to the Lord, and he
was dedicated to the Lord.
So when God calls you with a personal
call, after He has called you to salvation,
and you have dedicated your life to serve
the Lord, then you can hear the specific
calls of God on your life.
Whether it be with an audible voice as
Samuel or just through the admonition and teaching
of your parents, elders, and godly men, God
calls in many different ways.
I believe it's important for young people not
to get discouraged either by not seeming to
hear a clear voice from God.
And as I'm speaking, you may be saying,
well, if God would just give me a
clear audible voice and say something clearly from
heaven, then I would gladly do it.
But I'm just not sure.
I don't understand exactly what He wants me
to do.
Well, let me give you some examples from
my own life.
I, from a very, or quite early age,
felt a call of God to preach.
That someday I would be standing here behind
the pulpit preaching the Word of God.
It was just an impression that God gave
me.
But you know, in the years from that
time on as I was growing up, gave
my heart to the Lord and served Him
in a number of ways, it was quite
a few years before I was ordained to
the ministry.
And there were numerous times in those years
when I thought, it'll never happen.
And those thoughts may come to you too.
You may find, or it seems that your
way is blocked, but let me assure you,
if your heart is set to serve God
and you pour out your life in service
wherever He gives you opportunity, at the right
time, God will open the way for you
to serve in that special way that you
feel He has called you.
So don't sit around thinking that you've got
a special call and I'm not going to
do anything until I have that opportunity.
No, God wants you to learn many things
in the school of life.
And I had to learn many things.
The other thing I'd like to mention is
that even when you have a special call,
even when you're serving God, you may not
hear it directly from God, but you may
hear it through the counsel of your parents,
your elders, your brothers, sisters in the Lord.
And there are times when you simply need
to go and ask.
I had just recently a major decision in
my life that I had prayed about much,
could not get a clear direction from the
Lord on it directly, and I went to
my brothers and said, here is the question,
here is where I'm at, what shall I
do?
And they gave me counsel.
And that will be true in your life
too, many times.
Yes, God calls sometimes directly, but other times
He calls by the counsel of Godly people,
those whom He has placed over you or
around you to help you.
Don't think you'll get away from it.
Don't think that, well, if I haven't heard
it just directly from God, then it's not
quite as important as the ones that have
been set before me by my parents and
so on.
Just set your heart to serve God and
God will open the way for you.
But don't be afraid to ask other people
too.
What do you think God wants me to
do?
Another thing I'd like to encourage you with
is to set your mind to serve God
with whatever comes your way to do.
And I'm talking here even about the ordinary
things of life, the work, the labor that
you do.
You'll never know yet what God is calling
you to and what your life's experiences might
be, how God will call you and the
things that you will need to know in
the areas that God calls you.
Some years ago I was teaching in school
and you know if you've taught young children
how sometimes they get discouraged with their lessons.
And I would try to encourage them, you'll
never know what you need to face in
life.
Some of these things that you study, your
math, your English and so on, you say
maybe now you say, well, when will I
ever use it?
What good is that?
But I would try to encourage them, you
know, God may call you to something and
you don't know what you might need down
the road.
Some of the front line work for God
is taking the Gospel to those who have
never heard.
And in many cases that means translating the
Word into their language.
It means learning a new language and being
able to speak to the people.
And you need a good grasp of language
skills in order to do that.
I know God's grace is there, but I
tell you, in your youth while you have
opportunities, seize them to learn what you can
for God.
Now there's a big difference between being caught
up in your work and in your job
and looking at that as fulfillment in itself.
That's the wrong focus.
Have your focus to be serving the Lord
God and this is only a stepping stone
to take me where God wants me to
labor.
And that will get your priorities in the
right place and you not get caught up
just serving and living for yourself.
My grandmother at about the age of 70
or thereabouts began her writing career.
I don't know the exact age.
It may have been in her late 60s
when she began writing and for a period
of about 10 years she wrote about a
half a dozen books that have blessed many
people, myself included.
Challenged me powerfully.
65 years old.
You know what she told me?
She said, I only went to the fifth
grade in school.
I couldn't go any further.
I would have loved to go further, but
I couldn't because of the circumstances in my
life.
But she said I had a very poor
grasp of English and she said it's been
a real struggle writing these books because I
didn't learn the English that I wished I
would have.
And it took me much labor, but God
gave her grace to overcome that and she
wrote, well, I'm saying take every opportunity because
you don't know what God might call you
to.
You maybe need to study your English.
Maybe you need to work in your dad's
shop for a while.
Maybe you need to work at home serving
your mother with young children.
Young people, you don't know what God might
call you to, so set your hand to
do what God places before you and do
it with all your might, seeing it as
a stepping stone for where God wants to
take you.
It's not wasted time.
It's not wasted years.
Samuel had a special and specific call of
God by name, but note that it came
early in his life and it wasn't until
years later that he actually had a public
ministry where God really used him.
The Apostle Paul was struck down by a
light and a voice from heaven and God
called him to be an apostle to the
Gentiles.
He said that several times.
Called by God to be an apostle.
But you know, even though he was immediately
used by God briefly, yet it was about
fourteen years before his ministry really started and
God took him through a real school of
God in those fourteen years before he was
able to minister effectively to the Gentiles.
God is taking you through school.
Don't be discouraged if not some big ministry
has opened in front of you, but set
your heart to serve God with all of
your heart, soul, strength and mind.
And one more thing, set your mind that
you're going to serve the Lord even if
no big thing opens up and God can
use you.
You say, well, when some big ministry opens
up then I can really be used of
God.
But you know, it's those who are faithful
in the little things that are then prepared
for the big things.
God will pass by those who sit idle.
That testimony has been seen over and over.
God just passes by those who sit idle
and is looking for those who have sharpened
their swords, who have made their feet ready
by laboring in many small ways.
And I would just encourage you then to
set your mind to do what God places
before you, even if it's mundane, even if
it's thankless, caring for aged parents, caring for
children, working in the local church, serving.
Wherever God calls you, just set your mind
to serve and say, Lord, I'm here to
serve you all the rest of my life.
I don't care if it's big or little,
I'm going to serve you.
And you would be amazed what doors God
will open for you.
God has a call for you.
It's a personal call, but it comes for
those who are willing and have been preparing
themselves for the work.
Time would almost fail us, like the writer
of Hebrews said, speaking of the faithful, time
would almost fail us to speak of all
those who were called to some great work
of God and yet spent years in preparation
for it before they were ready to be
put in that place.
There was different things that God wanted to
bring them through.
So put your hand to your task and
do it with faithfulness and with zeal.
But the other side of that is, don't
see that as the end of itself.
See that only as a stepping stone for
where God wants to take you.
Now going to point number five, in this
call of God there is a prize.
There is a prize.
I'd like to read again that passage in
Philippians where Paul said, I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus.
Yes, there is a prize for this high
calling.
God is not unrighteous to forget your work
and labor of love, but He will surely
repay it.
It may not be in this life, but
it certainly will in the next.
And Paul said, I press toward the mark
for the prize.
And in this pressing we need to lay
aside the weights that might beset us.
We need to lay aside the hindrances and
press.
That's an action word.
Pressing into the kingdom.
Pressing into the work of God.
I press toward the mark for the prize.
Paul was able to say at the end
of his days, he said, henceforth there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, the one
who has seen all my life, the one
who has judged all that I have done,
the one who judges every action to see
whether it was done for the will of
God and the glory of God.
The righteous judge at that day will give
me a crown of glory, and not to
me only, but unto all them also that
love His appearing.
Set your sights on that heavenly crown, that
prize that Paul had.
His sights set on, and he was able
to press into it.
And you know his life, it was not
an easy one.
He was beset by trials, oppressions.
He was stoned.
He was shipwrecked.
He suffered greatly in the flesh, but always
his spirit, even though pressed out of measure,
his spirit was to serve God.
Many years into his ministry, when he was
called to give an account before the king,
he said that God had called him to
be a minister to the Gentiles.
And I can't quote the whole thing there,
but he said this.
He said, I have not been disobedient to
that heavenly vision.
And oh, that that might be your testimony,
that you have not been disobedient to the
heavenly vision that God has set before you.
Even the vision that God placed before you
this morning, and the testimony of the young
people there.
If God set a vision in your heart
this morning, don't be disobedient to that heavenly
vision, but go after it with all your
heart.
There is a prize, and Paul saw that
prize clearly.
And it's set there before us.
To all who would faithfully run the race,
we can also be partakers of the prize.
And I'd like to read again, Revelation 19,
9.
And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are
they which are called unto the marriage supper
of the Lamb.
That's the picture of after this life, we
are called to that marriage supper of the
Lamb.
And I'm so glad I've been called.
I'm not worthy to have been among the
called.
But I praise God that I have been
called.
I had the opportunity to hear the call.
And all of you today have had the
opportunity to hear the call.
And I just pray that this week, as
God calls you, as He surely will, He
surely will call you.
And I trust that as you've gathered, especially
you young people that have traveled from a
distance, the fact that you've come here would
tell me that you are sensing that God
is calling you to something higher in your
life.
Something higher and more than what you have
now.
And I say, go after that with all
your heart and listen to God's voice calling
you.
Because He will, and He'll continue to call.
If you've not been saved, He's calling you
to salvation.
If you have been saved, He is calling
you to sanctification, to a holy calling.
And God also has a personal call in
your life.
He has a ministry and a work that
He wants you to do.
And then be encouraged that in the end
there is a prize and a blessing for
those who are called in Christ Jesus.
So I commend to you God's calling, God's
high and holy calling.
May God bless you.
Thank you, brother.
God's call.
It's a subject I have meditated upon in
my Christian life from time to time.
And it's one that I have found often
humbles me to think that God would call
me.
That He would incline Himself and open the
door to life with Him by calling to
you and I.
And I know it has something to do
with God revealing Himself to us too.
And God does that in different ways.
Through His Word, through the preaching of the
Word.
The Bible says even the heathen are without
excuse because they see the call of God
in the heavens.
The handiwork, the signature of God.
In our day here in the New Testament
church day, the call of God has gone
out to all men.
And that we can go and preach and
give the call of God all over the
whole world like we heard this morning.
But that doesn't exclude us here either, does
it?
And the call of God is strong here
as well.
That universal call that God is offering to
you and I today to come.
Come unto Him.
And like He said today, the call is
not only to the person that doesn't know
Jesus Christ, but also to the Christian.
That call is still there too.
To go deeper.
To go further.
To know the things of God.
To sell out.
To know what it is to yield totally
and fully.
Sometimes that call almost seems harder, doesn't it?
In its own way.
So may God bless these words to us
that have heard it this day.
It's a right message.
It's a good message as we begin Bible
school to meditate on that and think on
that and be open.
And I trust you dear young people that
are here this morning that that is the
place you've allowed your heart to get to.
And if it's not, I challenge you to
let your heart get to that place to
receive and to hear the call of God.
Because you will hear it this week.
Here.
But you need to hear it here as
well.
In your heart.
In your soul.
It will be given this week.
I guarantee it.
It will be given.
So will you open your heart this week?
Today?
Will you receive what God has for you?
And I don't know what it is for
you.
You come from all over the country.
Different backgrounds.
Different situations.
Different family situations.
But the call of God is universal.
It can pierce right into your situation and
speak to you today and the rest of
this week.
May God do that.
Amen.
Well, I was blessed this morning by all
the things God brought our way, weren't you?
Amen.
From the Africa teen to children's lesson.
The Cooper family and then the message here,
the Word of God.
So many things God has for us.
We are a blessed people.
We should be a thankful people, shouldn't we?
Thankful people.
Well, we probably have a little time here
to open it up.
If you have something to share about the
message this morning or some way God has
touched your heart or testimony, that would be
a blessing for others to hear.
If you raise your hand, then one of
the ushers would get a microphone to you.
Amen.
I thank God for the messages this morning
and just wanted to share a little bit
from a biography that I've been reading about
a young man that was in preparation to
go on the mission field.
And the striking thing about his life was
that he never made it to the mission
field.
But he became ill, very ill, and passed
away during the latter part of his preparation.
He actually was overseas at a training station.
And so in his mid-twenties, that was
the end.
But the beautiful thing about his life was
that he had so taken seriously his preparation
and his service along the way that his
life was not at all wasted.
And as a matter of fact, so many
lives that he had touched along the way,
as people heard that he had gone on
to glory, many, many were convinced by the
Spirit of God to go and take his
place.
And so it's a beautiful thing.
And I just want to say amen to
that, to serve where we are in the
little things.
And God can make much of that.
So thank you very much.
Amen.
Praise God.
The message this morning really touched base with
me.
I've only been saved about 14 months, gone
15 months.
I was on a downward spiral into drugs
and chasing the flesh and not minding the
Lord or hearing what he had wanted to
say to me.
Till one day the voice got so loud
when it came down upon me and he
did call me out.
Changed everything in my life.
Totally broke every bone in my body and
created a new man in me.
It was nothing in this world could have
ever done that to me or for me.
Things that I chased in this world, they
were fruitless.
There was no eternity there.
But since God has taken me and put
my eyes upward on eternal things and created
a new man in me, only God could
do something like that.
It was something of a supernatural event in
my life.
It superseded everything that I had going in
my life.
God got complete control of me and got
my full attention and changed everything in my
life.
And now to the day that I ask
him, Lord, take from me the things that
I don't need of this world.
Believe me, he took everything.
I walked around for months with just three
cushions and a blanket and a Bible and
he showed me that's all I need to
get by in this world.
And believe me, brothers and sisters, that was
all I needed.
I was quite a happy guy.
I used to drive a new Lincoln Town
Car.
I had my own business.
I had new vans and a pocket full
of money that I just frivolously wasted whenever
and however.
He took all that from me and showed
me exactly what I needed.
And all I needed in this world was
to separate myself from this world and to
put my eyes upon him.
He had given me back the years that
the locust had eaten, given me back the
love for people, the joy and the peace
that I once had that I thought was
never obtainable again.
But through the mercy and the grace of
my Father gave it all back to me
in spades.
What a wonderful time it is to be
alive in Christ today with him, working for
him in my eyes upon him and walking
in the light that he provides to me.
I just want to thank him this day
and let these young people know out there
today to keep your eyes upward because there's
nothing in this world that's going to satisfy
you and that's the truth.
And when he does call you, pay attention,
be mindful.
He may not call again.
Listen to him.
When he calls you, do his will.
Say, Lord, Father, what will you have me
do this day for you?
I've asked him one time.
I said, Lord, I says, send me to
the place where your Christians won't go for
you.
Fully devoted to my Father, everything upon his
order.
And believe me, he doesn't wait long to
answer.
He doesn't wait.
He's not going to keep you waiting.
Sometimes he says, well, pray, pray, come back,
come back, come back.
Other times he acts immediately and put me
on the streets preaching his gospel for 14
months now, praising his name, glorifying his name,
putting the word out there to the homeless
and to other people that need some faith
or something in their lives that's solid and
sound, something that can bring back the joy
and the peace of life itself.
As only God can.
I want to praise him today for that.
Praise the Lord.
Amen.
Thank you.
Brother Mark?
Yeah, I wanted to say thanks to everyone
that prayed for me last week.
It's a good week with just clearing some
things with some of my family.
And I do want to hold to that,
that a vision I have of seeing them
one to the Lord and seeing the ones
that already are, just have a deeper walk.
And I wanted to, I guess you could
call it a confession, a change I've made.
There's a man named Keith Green that most
of you know is a, was a contemporary
Christian musician and certainly dealt with against his
life.
I still respect what he was, was about.
There's a, I guess a radical element of
him that, that really kind of draws me.
And his music though was, was simpler in
the world.
Sometimes I, I wonder exactly how God worked
through it and I don't know, but it's,
it's just a real dangerous realm for a
Christian to be in.
And it's not a life changing thing for
me.
I'd only listened to him maybe, I guess
three or four times in this past year.
But it is a, both for your soul
and I think the people that watch you,
it is a, it's a dangerous realm to
be in to, to settle for, for something
that, you know, that's not quite pure, which
is, I really think what it is.
So, like I said, it's not a life
changing thing for me, but it's something I
really think I needed to make clear before
all of you here that know me and
they meet me in the course of life.
And I also just thank for the other
testimonies that have been shared today and for
the, just the whole service, the message and,
and Brother David's family as they, they shared
and really, I guess, gave me a new,
new meaning of just being separate, of really
seeking those things which are above.
Amen.
Okay.
Steve.
Yes, I was really blessed by the message,
but I just want to praise God this
morning.
I want to bless His holy name.
And I would just like to testify that
God called me.
Amen.
And when God came and called me, He
spoke to me sharp.
And I just want to thank Him for
the mercy He had on my soul.
How long and patiently He waited, but one
day He just came and He said, this
is it.
You are my child.
You will turn your life.
And He led me to the place where
I got on my knees and there was
grace.
Through the blood of Jesus, He saved me
by His grace.
Amen.
I just want to thank Him.
I want to bless Him.
He's real.
He is alive.
Hallelujah.
Bless God.
Amen.
Praise His name.
He is real.
Yeah.
David.
In my own life, God's been, uh, He's
been working over this whole doctrine again of,
uh, the sovereignty of God in the call
of men, as I've been working through the
book of Romans lately.
And as I listened to Larry's message this
morning, and I think there's one thing that
I should share that would be good for
all of you.
I know there are a lot of young
people in the room today that will be
doing business with God and that's what we've
come to do.
But the call of God in the word
call, there is an invitation that requires an
answer.
That's right.
The call of God will not do for
you what you are not willing to agree
to.
You know, I grew up under that doctrine.
I bless God for my upbringing, but the
doctrine of eternal security and that sovereignty of
God that reaches down and takes a man
against his will.
I'm sorry, it's not true.
Jesus Christ has an invitation and the father
is sending out an invitation to those who
will come to the marriage supper of his
lamb, of his son.
And you can be busy about other things
and you can neglect that invitation.
And though the invitation, the call of God
is open to you, if you're waiting for
God to grab you and do a work
in your life that you're not willing to
do yourself and you're not willing to agree
to and say, yes, God, I'm going to
step out and take a step of your
faith, it won't happen.
And I just want to add a little
emphasis if I could.
You know God's going to speak to you
this week, like Rick says.
I encourage you, I challenge you and would
even, what can I say, I mean, don't
sit and say, I hope God does something
in my life this week.
Rather say, I hope I hear the voice
of God because I'm sitting here planning to
say yes, when he does.
Do you know the difference between those two?
One puts the responsibility on God and you'll
go ten years waiting for God to do
a work in your life.
I would challenge you, be ready to say
yes when God says, David, I'm calling you
to do this.
You be one who says, yes Lord, I'm
going to come to the wedding supper.
Amen.
Yes, okay, back here.
Okay, go ahead over here first.
Yes, I was just reading in Matthew 7
this morning and first of all, I woke
up and I was praying, you know that
God would answer our prayers and I just
thank God that he does answer our prayers
and many times we don't believe or think
he might not answer our prayers and we
don't know why, but I believe that God
wants to answer our prayers.
I'm going to read a couple of verses
here.
Matthew 7, verse 7, I'll start there.
Ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and he shall find.
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
For everyone that asketh, receiveth.
And he that seeketh, findeth.
And to him that knocketh, it shall be
opened.
For what man is there of you whom
his son asked bread, will he give him
a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he
give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much
more shall your Father which is in heaven
give good things to them that ask him?
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men
should do unto you, do ye even so
to them.
For this is the law and the prophets.
And I just, you know, if I being
evil and my son asks for bread, will
I give him a serpent?
No.
And much more so our Father which is
in heaven, if we ask good things of
him, he will grant our petition.
And I just pray that God will take
us at our word.
There's many prayers going up this week and
we're praying, you know, for Bible school and
Bible school students themselves are praying and we
are praying.
May God take us up on our prayers
because, I mean, we pray and we ask
for good things.
I pray that God will take us at
our word and answer our prayers, you know,
because, you know, if we seek God, we
are seeking God, and we cry out and
we are desperate.
We even pray to be desperate, you know.
Will God hear our prayers?
Will we believe him?
And even through our foolishness, he will answer
our prayers.
So I just, that's my heart that God
will take us at our word.
Okay, Brother Steve.
Okay, I thank the Lord this morning for
the message and it was a blessing.
I thank the Lord for saving my soul
many years ago and that I did answer
the call for salvation and also for the
calling on my life.
I thank the Lord for that.
I wanted to say thank you to the
effort of church for the blessing that you've
been to us, for the love that you've
shared to us in the food shower a
couple weeks ago.
Thank you so much and God bless you.
We're just happy to be a part of
you here.
Thank you.
Amen.
Thank you, Brother.
Okay, Steve.
Amen.
Brother Steve Waldner's testimony just brought to mind,
brought to recollection the time when God called
me and the reason I wanted to share
it was that the specific words that I
heard again and again and again were not
maybe what you'd expect, but the Lord just
kept saying to me, what are you waiting
for?
What are you waiting for?
And I can't remember how many times that
the Lord spoke, what are you waiting for?
But I sat in message after message and
I don't know what was preached, but that
was what the Lord said to me.
What are you waiting for?
And so I guess I wanted to encourage
everyone that if the Lord speaks in a
sentence that maybe you're not expecting, we still
should answer that call.
And I rejoiced that I finally realized what
God was saying and I said, amen, God,
what am I waiting for?
Amen.
Okay, there's one over here.
Yeah, I just wanted to thank everybody for
what they've, the encouragement everybody's been to me
here and as I get ready to go
back to Idaho and I just want to
thank the church for being here to show
me how a church works and how a
church can work and work together and the
love that operates through a church and I
just want to thank y'all for that
and thank the Lord for having a church
here that is shedding forth the truth and
the light.
I also want to thank the Lord for
his leading in our lives that if we
put ourselves to do the little things in
life that we can do, just may not
be the big things that the Lord will
bless.
I just want to encourage all the young
people to, things in the home or wherever,
just to do their best and that's the
best place to learn to serve the Lord.
Thank you.
Amen.
Thank you, brother.
Our prayers go with you as you go
back to Idaho and trust that God will
lead you what he has for you to
do there.
There was another hand in the back here.
Patrick, was it?
Okay.
Yes, I'd just like to say thank you
to all of you.
This church has been such a blessing to
us from the first time I came through
the door with a big brick wall in
front of me determined to get a tape
and get out and God just took that
and threw it down the steps and said,
leave that outside.
But you've been such a blessing to us,
such an encouragement and I know Georgina would
say the same thing.
I just wanted to testify.
I've been pretty sick earlier this week and
it was really something for me.
I was making life miserable for everyone around
me because I was miserable and I just
felt like God said in everything, give thanks.
And I said, well, how am I supposed
to do that when I'm this sick?
And I just knelt down and I said,
Lord, I don't feel thankful, but thank you
for this sickness.
If there's something you want to teach me.
And almost immediately I started getting better and
ever since then, but by now I'm fine.
Yesterday was the first day it was completely
back to normal, but I just want to
praise God and thank him for his salvation
and his healing and for everybody here.
You've all been such a blessing.
God bless you.
Amen.
God bless you, Patrick.
Thank you for being teachable and open while
you're seeking God.
Amen.
All right.
Do we have another hand?
Okay, down here.
Yes, I'm just very grateful to be here
this morning and I just say I'm here
by the grace of God.
So I encourage all of us young people
to seek after God, to, I don't know
exactly what to say, but to simply seek
God and ask him to sanctify us and
ask him to use us.
There's a time in my life this winter
where I didn't think I would be here,
especially not given some responsibility here.
And I'm just thankful for the mercy of
God and that he drew me out of
all my troubles.
And I was blessed this morning with just
what the Cooper family shared.
It helped me renew my vision for the
people that I witnessed to on a regular
basis in a local town there back home.
And I'm just blessed with what God is
doing in his church here and in Africa.
I just continue to serve the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Thank you.
I think we'll maybe have a song now,
Brother Earl, and then after that we have
some announcements and some directions for this week,
but also for a fellowship meal we'll be
having here this afternoon.
So let's have a song first.