Tonight I want to begin by talking about BODYBUILDING. Yes, who would have thought? Body building training is empowered and fueled by vision. Without a vision, a bodybuilding program is set to fail and disappoint. Vision is the deep, resolute determination to achieve the luster, the glory, the honor of success. Vision is the lurid picture of the power-packed biceps, the six-pack abs, the stallion legs and the square chested torso of a warrior. Vision is in moments where the bodybuilding victory is tasted, the trophies kissed and the champion’s carpet walked on. Vision is the driving force that puts a bodybuilding program on a road towards a winning streak. Vision determines who wins and looses out in bodybuilding. Without vision, bodybuilding becomes empty and void. It is indeed the vision that makes it possible to overcome the demands, the challenges and the pains of bodybuilding training. It is indeed vision that enables men and women to embrace pain and resolutely pursue greater muscle gains at chilling training intensities.You get my drift. Enough is enough.Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.” Another version says, “where there is no vision, the people perish.” It’s important to have a vision – it’s important to have something to fix our eyes upon as an internal compass point to direct our lives. Vision is the thing we move towards. We’re training our lives to go a certain direction. Without it we have no direction and purpose and without it we cast off restraint and fail. We are created for purpose.You want to know what the plan is for your life – go talk to the one who made you. Now let me lay it out there – it all begins with God. Being called and living called all begins with knowing God and being born again and knowing His love and living in response to His love. It all begins with hearing His voice.We’re not just saved, we’re called. We’re not just rescued, we’re recruited. The great underlying reason and purpose for our lives is that people come to know God and His redemption. Our careers, our hobbies, our studies, our relationships – everything in our lives – are all connection points used by God to get us – His ambassadors and witnesses – out into the world.So who are called? Simple answer -if you’re breathing – you’re called. It’s not about fulltime ministry it’s about fulltime LIVING. But in saying that some of you here ARE called to full time ministry – GREAT – that’s fantastic! Be thinking NOW how you can be that person doing that thing you’re dreaming of. How will that look in real life? Not feeling called into full time ministry – GREAT – that’s fantastic! Be thinking NOW how God will use you in your life to expand His Kingdom. Ministry isn’t an optional extra for our lives – it is WHO WE ARE. The Bible says: 1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. In Ephesians 4:11-13 it says: “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” If you’re a people of God – you’re called to serve and are in the process of being prepared and trained.God has a plan and purpose for our lives. Something tailor made that we’re designed to do. It may be ministry – but in fact WE’RE ALL MINISTERS whether we’re getting paid for it on not, or have a title or not… we’re all called to demonstrate the love and grace of God, we’re all called to reach out and evangelize, we’re all called to live our lives in such a way that people know we belong to Christ. God places us in work places and places where we can influence people for the Kingdom of God. Your job is your mission field. So then. How does someone called live?People who live called live with PURPOSE< PASSION< and PREPARATION.– people who are called, and living for that call, live with purpose. Back to the body builder illustration – its what gets them up in the morning to lift the weights… people who live called make goals and are intentional in the steps they take in life. They allow restriction and challenge to be part of their experience.i press on, i live with purpose and intention, i think about what i am doing in my life, i set goals. Paul says in Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. He pressed on to win the prize and complete with success that which God called him to do. He intentionally made decisions about how he would live his life. He didn’t wait for it to fall in his lap but took steps and action to be ready and prepared and involved and engaged. Paul had purpose and vision. Purpose directs your desire to serve God. It wraps practical steps and action to that desire of “here I am, send me.” Bill Johnson says “Never gaze at something that does not belong in your future.” Living with purpose means we are gazing at the RIGHT things for our future and intentionally living in such a way that ensures we’ll get to the right destination.Ask yourself – what can I do today that will take me to where I want to live tomorrow?- Paul said, “. . . woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to “preach the gospel” was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength. 1 Corinthians 9:16 Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! Jeremiah 20:9 But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in indeed, I cannot. There is a compelling and passion and obsession that can come with living a called life. Mark Driscoll, leader of one of the fastest growing church movements in America puts passion for the call of God like this: “I must do this or I might die. The called man cannot imagine going into another vocation: he thinks about ministry, dreams about ministry, and cannot shut up about ministry. There is an abiding, relentless desire for the work of ministry that the called man cannot forsake, shake off, or ignore.”God is at work in us to make us willing to do His will. If we’re willing it will show in who we are and what we do and what we say – it will leak out of us. We see this in natural obsessions… like Chris and ford. Me and Lost. Jordan and cars. Jazz and Justin. Likewise, if not more so, our passion for what God is calling us to do and who He is, should be evident to those around us.What are you passionate about? What flicks your bic? What do you want to spend your life doing? Feed it. Grow it. It’s okay to be totally bonkers about something – I knew when I got saved that I wanted to preach – and I began collecting books about preachers and books on revivals. I LOVE going to second hand book fair things and finding books about Charles Finney, Billy Graham, Smith Wigglesworth, DL Moody – people who have been there, done that, got the tshirt. My bookcase is evidence of what I am passionate about. What’s your passion?Passion is the fire that keeps us pressing on. It is the fire that gives the vision momentum. It’s the internally generated oompf to keep going, to enjoy the process, to ignore the grind and to be inspired. Interestingly – an OT aside here: do you know who lit the first fire on the altar of the tabernacle Moses built? God did. God lit that first fire on the altar. (Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. 24 Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown. Leviticus 10:23-24) But the instruction to the priests was that “The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. Lev 6:12 God started the fire but it was the priests responsibility that the fire keep burning. In the same way – God ignites a passion for His purposes – He speaks, He calls. But we have to keep the passion burning and feed it. Which brings me to my next point:– preparation is the putting legs on the passion and the purpose. It is the everyday lived out living the call. You see the call isn’t something we obtain on a particular date. It is right now. Today. Today is our reality.Preparation is a continual process of saying YES to God. 2 Timothy 2:20-21 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. Life is about choices. We can have a purpose and a passion but if we don’t JUST DO IT and make choices that align ourselves to go in that direction we’ll never get there. It’s like setting out for a trip to the south island but not turning the car on. You will just stay in the garage and never reach the destination.Preparation is the transforming of our character to be more like Jesus, undergoing the tests and trial and coming out the other side different. It is the choice to be cleansed and used. It is about becoming someone that God can use with power and glory. God likes things done His way, for His glory. Be practiced at living His way so He can use you.Galatians 5:13, 16-17, 24 You are called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Romans 8:5 puts it like this: Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. We make the choice. Surrender or resist? Prepare or push away? Are you fixing your life and heart and choices on spiritual things or natural things? The Bible makes it really clear – “Do not be deceived – God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” You do not want to get to the end of your life with regrets and what ifs… and the thing is life is more than breathing and there is eternity to follow too.Matthew 10:38-39 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." — Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dying to self and our own selfish desires is preparation. Overcoming the flesh and learning how to hear God’s voice and to obey without delay is preparation. Preparation isn’t so much what you know but who you are that counts – its not about going to bible college, though that is great, or memorizing the book of Ephesians, though that is great, or learning Hebrew, though that is great. It’s about being SOMEONE that God can use. Preparation through trial and suffering creates strength, grows our faith and reliance on God’s reality and power, and produces holiness and character. James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. We are called, but we must live worthy of the call, living called. Paul time and time again beseeches us to walk worthy of the call (Ephesians 4:1) I think most of us sometimes live in fairytale land that if I kinda point myself in a direction I’ll get there – God does promise in Philippians 1:6 that He WILL complete the good work He has started – but that promise is outworked everyday as we say YES and agree with the process. The heroes of the faith were people who said YES and answered the call. The people who got there and lived adventures for Jesus and who did exploits in history are people who laid their lives down and had purpose, passion and total surrender to God’s will in their lives. Being called isn’t a magical guarantee of success. The challenge is this – many are called, but few are chosen. "For many are called, but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14). What is the difference between being called and being chosen? The Greek word kletos, translated "called," can also be translated "invited." A calling by God is His offer, His invitation, to repent, enter into a relationship with Him and then to serve Him. Many are called – but few really take up the invitation to live called – to live preparing and with purpose, laying their life down for God’s ways, denying self, killing the flesh. Rick Perry rarked us up a few weeks ago to live intentionally – to live for Jesus. Not just part of our lives, not just Sunday from 10-12 – but our whole life, 24/7, wholeheartedly committed to His plans and purposes. Living called means we live with that perspective and vision – that our lives are no longer our own but we are ambassadors and servants of God for HIS glory, so that the world may know He is real and worth knowing.The glorious thing is that as we lose our life we find it. As we know God, we become strong and do exploits. I want you to know that God has a plan for your life – a great glorious amazing plan – but you only get to live it as you walk with Him. Our greatest satisfaction in life is living out what we’re made to be. And there is reward and harvest for those living their lives God’s way, both in this life and after earth. When life is over, we can not take anything with us into eternity, except a life that was lived in love and obedience to God. This world is not real, Jesus is ultimate reality. We don’t live for that which is seen, but we must daily live for that which is unseen – the kingdom of heaven and release heaven into this earth through our words, actions and purpose. How awesome is that!My challenge to you tonight is this: are you living called? Are you living in a way that is going to get you where you are dreaming of going? Or are you doing things that are counterproductive to success?Please stand, close your eyes and focus on God.Some of us need to make changes in how we’re living. It might be day to day things that are tripping us up. It might be decisions we are making and habits that we have formed that we know are sinful. Today is the day to stop, kill those things and start again.Some of us need to reignite our passion for God and who He is first and foremost. This will outflow into who we are meant to be. Serving God comes out of LOVE. We live our lives in response to His love. Tonight come ask for a revelation of His love tonight. Some of us need encouragement that we’re doing a good job and that its worth it. It is so worth it. It is so worth it. Keep being faithful. Tonight come and get refreshed and refueled for the tasks ahead. Pray:
