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  (ACTS) LIVING IN THE CALL OF GOD
  by Brian Brodersen
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Summary: Paul's ministry in Ephesus was marked by great success, but
also by opposition, and he remained faithful to his calling to spread
the gospel.

Duration: 45:15 Topics: "Gods Calling", "Faithful Living"
Scripture References: Acts 20:7-38

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DESCRIPTION
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In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of discovering and
following God's call and plan for our lives. He encourages listeners to
get in the groove of what God has for them, as that is where life truly
happens. The speaker also acknowledges that life can be difficult and
challenging, but reminds listeners to remain faithful in whatever God
has called them to do. Whether it is being a faithful mother or a
dedicated employee, the speaker urges listeners to fulfill their
specific callings with all their heart. The sermon concludes with a
prayer, expressing gratitude for God's rescue from sin and boredom, and
a reminder to embrace the adventure and purpose that God has for each
individual.

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CONTENT
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Acts chapter 19, we have been following the Apostle Paul, and to me this
has just been one exciting adventure, following him through Acts. You
know, I've read through Acts many times and I've taught through it a
couple of times, but I don't know, it just seems like this time through,
I am getting inspired as I go through it. And as I see the Apostle just
so passionately going about his service to God and just, you know, with
all diligence and the kind of commitment that just made him an
unstoppable force.

He just went from place to place, spreading the gospel and planting the
churches as he went. And so in our last study, we saw that Paul spent a
couple of years in the city of Ephesus. He came into Ephesus and he
found a handful of disciples that hadn't really experienced that full
relationship with the Lord.

And then he ministered to them and brought them into more of a full
experience with Christ. And then he went on to minister in the synagogue
and there was some fruit that was born from that. And then, as usually
was the case, he was driven out of the synagogue after a period of time.

But then he set up in what was called the School of Tyrannus. And
therefore, a couple of years, Paul, on a daily basis, he would minister
the word. Some scholars believe that he actually had a set time.

One of the ancient text actually refers to the time of the day that Paul
would have been teaching on a daily basis. And so there's speculation
with possibly, you know, some good background information for that, that
Paul taught four to five hours every day. And so he had this basically,
you know, just sort of a school that was open and that people would come
and listen to the gospel message.

And we know from the record here in chapter 19 that all of those who are
in Asia, Asia heard the gospel through Paul while he was in Ephesus. So
as this was a place where people would come for all different kinds of
reasons, for religious reasons, for commercial reasons and all of that
sort of thing, word must have gotten out about this man, Paul, and about
the message. And as lives were being impacted, they would tell their
friends about it and more and more people all the time would show up.

And Paul had a busy thing going each and every day. We also learned that
during that period of time, God worked unusual miracles through Paul's
hands and even pieces of his clothing would be taken. And as a person
would touch that piece of his clothing, they would be healed of various
diseases and things.

And God was working powerfully to show that Paul was his servant and
that the message that he was bringing was indeed his message. And we're
told there that many who practice magic, they came and they committed
their lives to Christ. They burned their books and they just completely
turned away from those occultic practices that they were involved in.

And so in verse 20, we read, then the word of the Lord grew mightily and
prevailed. So the picture is that there's just this great sense of God's
presence and his power working here in the city of Ephesus. And so in
this place that was a center of idolatry and a center of immorality and
a center of occultism, here was a place where God was moving mightily.

You know, there are a lot of places today that are probably very similar
to the way Ephesus was. And, you know, what happens sometimes is we have
a tendency to sort of look at a place like that and say, oh, that's you
know, that's not a place to go start a church because, you know, it's
there's too much sin there. We need to go look for a nicer community or
something like that.

And a lot of times what happens with people who are looking to plant
churches, a lot of the different movements that are sort of out and
about today within the church world, they always look to go into the
suburbs. They look to go into, you know, the outskirts of a large city,
into the nicer communities where people are a little more civilized and
and maybe a little bit more well to do financially or whatever, because
it's all part of a strategy, you know, that we're going to reach out to
these middle class sort of yuppie kind of people. And and quite often
the the city centers, the places where, you know, things are so
desperate, the church is vacating those places.

But Paul wasn't like that. Paul went anywhere. I mean, I'm not saying we
shouldn't go to the suburbs, which we should go everywhere, but we
shouldn't exclude certain places because we look at it and say, oh, you
know, that that place is too sinful.

There's a particular region in England that has sort of been on my heart
lately, and part of the reason is I have a friend who lives there. And
for the past seven years, he's been pestering me, actually refers to
himself as the pest. He's been pestering me to somehow get a church
planted in that area.

But I just found out on this last trip that this particular region is
known as the most unchurched area in the country. Now, to me, that
sounds exciting because these people don't know anything and unchurched
over there is really sort of a good thing, because that means the Church
of England hasn't had any influence. And that's probably better that
that hasn't occurred.

But I think of that that kind of opportunity to go into a place where
people have not heard because people who haven't heard are a lot of
times. People who are very open when they do hear. And so that's what
Paul did.

And so in this city of Ephesus, this great center of population and
wickedness, the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed when these
things were accomplished. When the church was established, when Paul
felt that things were at a place where he could now consider maybe
moving on to a new region, it says here that he purposed in the spirit
when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem,
saying, after I have been there, I must also see Rome. And so Paul had a
desire to move on.

He felt that he had accomplished his task in Ephesus. The church was up
and running and they had no doubt raised up leadership and other people
were able to step in and do the things that Paul had been doing. So now
he wants to go back into some of the areas that he had previously
planted churches in.

But eventually he wants to get back to Jerusalem for a time, but then
ultimately he wants to get to Rome. Paul has this great desire to get to
Rome and to preach the gospel in that capital city of the ancient world.
And so he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him,
Timothy and Erastus.

But he himself stayed in Asia for a time. So now Paul's planning and
Luke gives us some insight into his planning. So he's wanting to go back
into the area of Macedonia for a while.

So he sends these two men ahead of him to sort of prepare the way for
him. But now he remains a bit longer in Asia, in the area of Ephesus.
And about that time, there arose a great commotion about the way for a
certain man.

Named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Diana, brought
no small profit to the craftsman. He called them together with the
workers of similar occupation and said, men, you know that we have our
prosperity by this trade. Moreover, you see and hear that not only at
Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia.

This Paul has persuaded and turned away many people saying that they are
not gods which are made with hands. And so listen to the testimony of
Demetrius. He, of course, is upset at what's going on because they're
losing money.

This guy, Paul, he's causing a problem. He's turning everybody away
from. Idolatry, and as he's turning the people away from idolatry,
that's having a negative impact on our business because that's how they
were making their money, they were selling these shrines.

But it's interesting that this was the testimony of this man, Demetrius,
an unbeliever and a man who was hostile, hostile, really, to the gospel
message. But nevertheless, he he acknowledges that it's this Paul, he's
the one who is responsible for this. He's turned many people, not just
here in Ephesus, but all over Asia.

He's turned many people away from these things. Boy, what a great
testimony the apostle Paul had his life. How impactful was his life that
he was known, even by his adversaries, as one who had turned many people
to Christ.

Now, you know, Paul, he really did nothing more than fulfill the calling
upon his life. And that's really the goal that each and every one of us
ought to be shooting for. We might not have that kind of a calling
necessarily to be like an apostle Paul and to go out and to pioneer
churches and to preach the gospel in this way and to turn many people to
the Lord.

But there is a particular calling upon our lives and we don't know all
of the things that that might include. But here's the important thing,
that we be faithful to the calling that God's put upon our lives, just
as Paul was faithful to the calling that God put upon his life. You see,
the Lord is not going to question us about whether we attain to the same
stature or the same level as another person.

He's not going to say to us someday, now, did you lead as many people to
the Lord as my servant Paul did back in his day? He's not going to say,
did you plant as many churches as this other servant of mine did, or,
you know, did you feed as many poor people or he's not going to say that
what he's really going to ask us is simply this. Did you do what I
called you to do? Did you fulfill the calling upon your life? You see,
that's an important thing to grasp, because a lot of times we can, I
think, sort of get in a trap because. We compare ourselves with other
people and we think that their calling must be sort of the standard for
any calling, and then we we we look at ourselves in comparison to that
and we either feel satisfied that we've done just as well or better or
we're disappointed because we've fallen so far short.

But you see, the important thing is to just note this, that God has a
specific call for you individually that isn't necessarily comparable to
anyone else. I mean, there might be some similarities, but but God's not
measuring you by that. All he's measuring you by is what he gives you
and calls you to do.

And this is the key. It's simply being faithful. Paul said that himself
in writing to the Corinthians, he said, this is what God is looking for.

He said what God is looking for in a servant or in a steward is that he
be found faithful. And so whatever the Lord's called you to do, be
faithful in it. Do it to the best of your ability, do it with all your
heart.

Make that your primary goal in life to fulfill that particular call that
God has upon you, it might be the call as a mother to faithfully raise
your kids in the faith and pray for them all of your life. It might be
for you as an employee of some company to be there at that place and to
be in the position there on the job and to be that witness that you are
there, you're just there day in and day out, and it might seem like a
boring thing. It might seem like, man, I'm not doing anything for the
kingdom, but if that's where God's called you and that's where he's
placed you, that's obviously where he wants you and you are doing
something for the kingdom as you bear witness to Christ with your life,
as you pray for those people.

As you just make yourself available as God's servant to pray for his
work, wherever it might be going on, as you become aware of it. You see,
that's the thing, as Pastor Chuck has often reminded us, Paul referred
to himself as an apostle by the will of God, that was God's will that
Paul be an apostle and he fulfilled God's will, but God has a different
will for each of us. And the important thing, again, is just to to be
faithful to it.

And so Paul was faithful and God used him powerfully and he turned many
away from idolatry. And so Demetrius, he's concerned about this. And so
he's calling together his fellow craftsmen.

And so verse 27 says, so not only this trade of ours is in danger of
falling into disrepute. But also the temple of the great goddess Diana
may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the
world worship. Now, when they heard this, he's speaking to these
craftsmen, Demetrius is when they heard this, they were full of wrath
and they cried out, saying, great is Diana of the Ephesians.

And so he's got them all whipped up, they're all excited now, they're
angry, they're full of wrath. This Paul, he's taking away our business,
he's causing us to lose money. And then they kind of throw this in there
and he's offending our goddess Diana.

I don't think they really cared about that, to be honest with you. That
was just a means to an end and the end was making money. And so often
that's the case.

You know, it's interesting that there's only two times in the book of
Acts that we have a record of of Gentile opposition to Paul's ministry.
Generally, the minister, the opposition to his ministry came from the
Jews. But on two occasions, we have a record of Gentile opposition.

And in both cases, it was over the issue of money. You remember in
Philippi when he cast the demon out of the young girl who was a fortune
teller and those men who used her to make money off of her ability to
tell fortunes, they were the ones that were upset. They were the ones
that caused the ruckus.

They were the ones that caused Paul and Silas to end up in jail. But it
was because they were losing money. And so here it is with Demetrius and
his friends as well.

So the whole city was filled with confusion and they rushed into the
theater with one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus,
Macedonians, Paul's travel companions. And when Paul wanted to go in to
the people, the disciples would not allow him. Then some of the
officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading that he
would not venture into the theater.

Now, that particular theater that they're referring to, there's still
the ruins of it in Ephesus. That theater could hold about twenty five
thousand people. So this was probably quite a riot.

There was probably a very large mob of people that gathered here at this
point. And so some cried one thing and some another, for the assembly
was confused and most of them did not know why they had come together.
That's usually the way it is in a mob situation.

You know, people don't even know what they're doing. You know, I had a
funny experience a few months back, back prior to the the Iraqi war
beginning. You remember, there was all the anti-war demonstrations and
all of this kind of stuff going on, not only here in the U.S., but all
over the world.

And you remember our news people were faithful to report that to us
every day, letting us know how much other nations and people were upset
and hated our president and hated the Americans and all that. And I
happened to be in Germany about the time that all of that was leading up
to the conflict. And I was in the city of Cologne and I happened to walk
into the midst of an anti-war demonstration.

And it really kind of caused me to chuckle because it was much like Paul
said here. Most people didn't know what in the world was going on. They
were out there riding skateboards and drinking beer and playing their
guitars and just, you know, sitting around talking to each other.

And I thought, oh, this is an interesting anti-war demonstration. You
know, there are a few diehard communists out there with their Che
Guevara posters and their literature and all that. But for the most
part, people were out there just, you know, it was sort of a big party.

And yet, you know, the media is reporting all of this anti-Americanism
and, you know, they're showing these rallies and all of that. But so
often in these large groups of people that gather together, this is the
kind of situation as Luke and I think almost comically, Luke sort of
makes note of this. Most of the people didn't know what in the world
they were even doing there.

It was just a crowd had gathered and they walked up. And what's going
on? I don't know. I stick around.

We'll find out, I'm sure, sooner or later. And, you know, other people
come up. And and so the crowd did continue to grow.

But in verse 33, it tells us at this point they drew Alexander out of
the multitude, the Jews putting him forward now. Here's what's going on.
There's a Jewish community here.

They've already pretty much rejected Paul. And now Paul is preaching
against idolatry and that's caused a problem. Now, the Jews in the
community, they're paranoid at this point that somehow this is going to
backfire and it's going to result in them getting into trouble, getting
harassed.

And so this man, Alexander, evidently he wants to make it clear that
they're not supporting Paul. They're not associated with him. They're
not in any way, shape or form connected to what he's doing.

So that's Alexander's motive here. He wants to disassociate himself.
Interesting thing, a Jew.

He wants these Gentiles to know that, hey, it's not the Jewish community
that's opposing your idolatry. You know, we have nothing to do with it.
It's this other guy over here.

An interesting thing for the Jews who were supposed to be the great, you
know, promoters of a monotheistic religion and those who were known as
being against idolatry. But yet here they're trying to disassociate
themselves because they think they're wanting to protect themselves. So
the Jews put him forward and Alexander motioned with his hand and he
wanted to make his defense to the people.

But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice, cried out
for about two hours. Great is Diana of the Ephesians. Boy, can you
imagine that for two hours? They just were chanting that.

Now, when the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, men of Ephesus,
what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is
temple guardian of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell
down from Zeus? Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you
ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. Now, the city clerk, of course,
he would be the one who would be responsible if the Roman authorities
really had to intervene and, you know, deal with this situation, they
would have come back to him and said, look, why did you allow this
uproar to happen in your community? So he's looking out for himself, but
he notice how he appeals to them. He says, look, what do you what are
you all upset about? Come on, everybody knows that, you know, we are the
guardians of the the temple of Diana or Artemis is actually the proper
reference here.

And then he refers to this image that fell down from Zeus. Now, what?
Bible commentators generally believe to be the case here is that there
must have been some sort of a meteorite or something that had landed in
the area and they took it to be. Zeus sending them this image of
Artemis, and so they made replicas of that and set up the temple and
worship.

So he's appealing to them on this level. He says, look, everybody knows
that this is a fact. So what are you so upset about? He says these
things can't be denied.

And now he says, for you have brought these men here who are neither
robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. Therefore, if
Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the
courts are open and the pro councils are there. Let them bring the
charges against one another.

But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in the
lawful assembly, for we are in danger of being called into question for
today's uproar. There be no reason which we may give to account for this
disorderly gathering. And when he has said these things, he dismissed
the assembly.

Now, the city clerk was smart. He realized himself that this wasn't
about it, wasn't even about Paul directly attacking the temple, or it
wasn't like he was standing in Ephesus and preaching against that thing
specifically. He realized that Demetrius and his craftsmen had the
problem because it was an issue of their pocketbook.

And so he just says, look, these men haven't blaspheme your goddess.
They're not committing any sort of sacrilege toward toward the temple
here. So just leave them alone.

If Demetrius and these guys have a problem, they can go before the
magistrates, they can go before the councils. And evidently, that
satisfied the crowd. Most of them didn't know why they were there
anyway, so they figured time to disperse.

So they dismissed the assembly and after the uproar had ceased, Paul
called the disciples to himself, embraced them and departed to go to
Macedonia. And so now Paul's ministry in Ephesus is finally winding up
and he heads back now over into the area of Macedonia. Now, if you look
at your map, of course, you've got Ephesus would be in modern day
Turkey, the westerly coast and then across the Aegean back over into the
area of Macedonia and Greece.

That's where Paul now headed. Now, when he had gone over that region and
encountered and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece and
stayed three months. And when the Jews plotted against him as he was
about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

And so Petra Berea accompanied him to Asia. Also, Aristarchus and
Secundus of the Thessalonians and Gaius of Derby and Timothy and
Tychicus and Trofimus of Asia. These men going ahead waited for us at
Troas.

So Paul has this team, some of them from the area of Macedonia. The
others are from the other side of the Aegean, back over in that area
known today as Turkey. And so verse six says, we sailed away from
Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and in five days joined them
at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

So Paul went back through. And now, although Luke doesn't tell us, if we
read Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians, we discover what it was
that Paul was doing during this time. Paul was going around to those
churches in that area, and he was taking up an offering that he was
going to deliver to the poor saints in Jerusalem.

You see, the church in Jerusalem had fallen upon some hard times. They
were going through some difficulties. And Paul, who, of course, was a
Jew and who loved his people and who loved Jerusalem, but was sort of
seen by many of them as a renegade because of his ministry among the
Gentiles.

He thought this was a great opportunity to sort of endear himself and
the Gentiles to the Jews by taking them. Some aid during their time of
difficulty, and so he goes around to the churches and he collects. This
gift and these men are with him and they're going to eventually get this
gift back to the church in Jerusalem.

But you see, Luke doesn't give us the details. It's amazing how brief of
an account. Of the ministry of Paul, Luke really does give us.

This whole book of Acts here is a very, very brief account of the events
that happened in the first, you know, 50 or 60 years of church history.
Luke just singles out certain key things and concentrates on those
things, but there's a ton of things that he doesn't really give us any
insight on. Some of Paul's letters and some of Peter's writings as well
help to sort of fill in some of the blanks, but there's still plenty
that hasn't been filled in.

And so they left Philippi after the time of Passover, the Days of
Unleavened Bread, and it took them five days to sail from Philippi
across over to Troas. So it's almost sort of directly across, maybe
coming a bit southeast. And so they arrive in Troas and they stayed
there seven days.

Now, on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to
break to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them
and continued his message until midnight. Now, here, the seventh verse
is an important verse. Because this is where.

We see that the early church gathered for worship on the first day of
the week. The day that we know is Sunday. There's a lot of concern on
the part of some people about us worshiping on Sunday and sort of having
denied the Sabbath day and all of that kind of thing.

And quite often people will come up and ask the question, why did you
change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday? What right did you have to
alter what God had established in changing the Sabbath? But you see, we
didn't change the Sabbath. The Sabbath is still the seventh day, always
has been, always will be. And the Sabbath day, of course, was an
important day among the Jews.

But, you know, the interesting thing about the Sabbath, it wasn't
necessarily a day to go to church. Although you certainly would have
done something like that, but it was really a day of rest, that's what
God intended with the Sabbath day. It was a day for everybody to rest.

You see, the Jewish people, they worship God every day. There wasn't a
special day set aside where just once a week you decide you're going to
take an hour out and worship God. But for the Jews, it was a daily
activity.

So the Sabbath was really a time of ceasing from their labor, resting.
Now, when the day of Pentecost came and when the gospel began to go out.
The Christians, they began to gather together to worship on the first
day of the week, because remember, the first day of the week was the day
that Jesus had resurrected from the dead.

So they did it primarily, no doubt, in commemoration of the
resurrection. And so it became the day. That the believers gathered
together, some diehard Sabbath people.

They accuse the Catholic Church of, you know, forsaking the Sabbath and
setting up worship on the first day of the week. But the Catholic Church
didn't even come into existence until about 500 years after the
apostolic period. So we're reading right here in the apostolic record in
the book of Acts that it was the first day of the week that the
disciples came together to break bread.

So what we have established this worship on the first day of the week is
something that we have drawn from the scriptures, not something that
we've just, you know, decided to do. Because some. Church has instructed
us to do it, but yet at the same time, we, of course, like they did as
well, we worship the Lord every day.

And, you know, here at Calvary Chapel, we don't make a whole lot of
distinction and we do in one sense, you know, Sunday is the day when
most people do gather together. But we have, as you know, services going
on here every single day. And that's the way it ought to be.

So it was the first day of the week that they came together and they
broke bread. And I think that's a reference to partaking in the the
communion elements. And so Paul is ready to depart the next day, so he's
speaking to them and his message continued until midnight.

Now, sometimes I feel a bit long winded in my preaching, but I've never
preached till midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where
they were gathered together and in a window set a certain young man
named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by
sleep.

And as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and
was taken up dead. Now, I've fallen asleep in church myself, and I'm
glad I've never sat in a window on the third story because I might have
done the same thing, not really a smart place to sit. So Eutychus, he
falls asleep and falls over backward and ends up dead.

But Paul went down, fell on him and embracing him, said, Do not trouble
yourselves, for his life is in him. Like Elijah and Elisha, Paul throws
himself on this young man who is dead. Remember, Luke is writing this.

Luke is a doctor. So Luke would have told us from the medical standpoint
if it was anything other than death, but Luke tells us that he was taken
up as dead. And so, Paul, like Elijah or Elisha of old, you remember the
stories, how.

Those little children had died and they laid themselves on top of the
child, and then in a process there was a restoration, God brought life
back to the children. And so here Paul throws himself on Eutychus, and I
like the way Paul really doesn't draw any attention to himself. He just
simply says, Do not trouble yourselves, his life is in him.

Now, when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten and talked a long
while, even until daybreak, he departed and they brought the young man
in alive and they were not a little comforted. So I would say so they
were greatly comforted. Then we went ahead to the ship.

And sailed to a sauce there, intended to take Paul on board, for he had
given orders, intending himself to go on foot. And when we met at a
sauce, we took him on board and came to Mitalin. We sailed from there.

The next day came opposite us. The following day we arrived at Samos and
stayed at Trigillium. The next day we came to Miletus, for Paul had
decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in
Asia, for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, for the day
of Pentecost.

Again, just following the geography here, they pick up Paul there on the
coast and as they set sail, they stop at these islands along the way.
And then they end up at Miletus. And it's here at Miletus that Paul is
going to call together the elders of the church in Ephesus.

And it's here that he's going to say goodbye to them. After these many
years now of having ministered among them, he's going to bid them
farewell. And he's pretty convinced that he's never going to see them
again.

And it's a very touching encounter that we read about here in this story
as they all gather together there with the apostle. And as they gather
together, Paul, he really sort of speaks his heart to them, knowing that
he's not going to ever be with them again. He's going to remind them of
his ministry among them, and then he's going to really sort of give them
instruction so that they can be assured that they're going to make it
without him in the future.

And in the remainder of the 20th chapter here from verse 18, that is
what Paul does. And this is one of my favorite portions of scripture.
There are so many things that Paul said here that are just the kind of
things that really, you know, just hit deeply and leave a great
impression.

And therefore, I don't want to get into it tonight, but instead we'll
wait and we'll pick up next week in verse 18. And we'll go through these
very touching words, much like Paul's final epistle to Timothy. These
are his final words to these people that he loves so much in Ephesus
that he knew he'd never see again.

But he imparts to them real vital truth that will take them on into the
future. And so in our next study, we'll look at that together. But as we
close.

One final thought, and it really is just sort of going back to what we
talked about earlier. I want to just emphasize again, God's call, God's
plan. He has it all laid out for each and every one of us.

And the important thing in life is just to get in that groove of what
God has for us, because that's where life really happens. As we've said
before, that's where the adventure is, that's where the excitement is.
And it's a matter of just discovering it and knowing that.

You know, because life can be rough sometimes it can get hard, it can be
difficult, it can even become monotonous to some degree. But if we just
keep focused on this fact that, you know, I'm doing what God has called
me to do, I'm doing what God has created me to do, then that makes
everything else just. You know, it just makes it all fit together the
way it ought to.

And so the question tonight is, are you in the call of God? Are you
seeking the call of God? Are you asking God to direct your life? Do you
realize that it's not just coming to church? It's great that you're
here, but there's so much more to it than this. And I think, sadly,
there are people who are content to just come to church and to get that
hour in or that two hours or something like that a week. You know, OK, I
went to church, I did my religious duty for the week, and then I'm back
out living my life and doing my thing.

But if that's the case, you are missing out on the most glorious life
possible, the life that God has prepared for you, a life right smack in
the center of his will. So don't be content with anything less than
that. Because if you are.

You're just living so far below what God actually has for you. But
realize God has a plan, he has a purpose, he has things that he wants to
work into your life, he has things that he wants to accomplish in your
life and through your life. And when we're living that way.

That's what Jesus was talking about when he spoke of abundant life. He
said, I've come to give men life and that more abundantly, that's what
he's talking about, the life that's in the center of God's plan. So.

Get in the center of God's plan and enjoy that abundant life that the
Lord has for you. And remember, it's not just about coming to church,
it's about living each day for the Lord and finding that call and that
purpose that he has for you. That's when it's a thrill and that's what
it ought to be.

That's what God wants it to be. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you
did come to rescue us from our sin.

To rescue us from the destructive effects of it. But Lord, you came to
rescue us from boredom as well, came to rescue us from the monotony of
life. You came to set us on an adventurous course.

And Lord, each and every one of us, we believe what your word says.
Lord, we believe that. We are your workmanship created in Christ Jesus
for good works that you ordained beforehand for us to walk in.

And so, Lord, as we seek you each day. May we be walking in that. And
Lord, even on those occasions, even during those days when we might be
bored, when things might seem a bit monotonous, help us, Lord, to step
back and get a glimpse of the bigger picture.

Help us to realize. Lord, that you are working out your eternal plan and
purpose, help us to be patient. Help us to be devoted to you and to your
call.

In Jesus name. Amen.

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Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/11/SID11297.mp3
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/brian-brodersen/acts-living-in-the-call-of-god/
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