I want to jump into our talk today. We’re still in our series called Accept or Decline. So if you have your worship guides, your sermon notes are available on there for you in paper form, or if you use the YouVersion Bible App, you can get the sermon notes off on the app as well. Let’s see where we want to turn. Yeah, we won’t turn there. Here at The Roads Church we get excited about the word of God. We believe it’s his inspired word and that he wants to speak to us every time we go to open it. So if you have your Bibles today, let’s make some noises with the best, Mt. Carmel Church. Open it up to II Timothy chapter 1. Today I want to talk to you about filling a gap.
Everybody says to fill the gap, fill the gap. We’re going to talk about filling a gap today. Second Timothy chapter 1. I’m going to start reading in verse 3. Is everybody ready? Did you spring forward one hour? Let’s go for one hour. Starting in verse three. I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience as my forefathers did, as without ceasing. I remember you in my prayers night and day greatly desiring to see you being mindful of your tears that I may be filled with joy. It may need some joy in your life. Well, here’s what Paul says. This is your formula for getting more joy for your life, Mt. Carmel Church. When I called to remember, it’s the genuineness, the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and then your mother, Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power and of love and of sound mind.
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor me his prisoner. But share with me and the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a Holy calling. Not according to our works, but according to his purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. Let’s just pray over this. Father, I just thank you for your presence. We would ask you to come and just bring life to the word of God, Holy Spirit. We welcome you. We make room for you. We come here for you, Jesus. It’s all about you. To learn more about you, to understand you more, Lord, to know what you have for our life. So I ask God that you just speak clearly into our hearts, the truths of your word, that we will come out of here, not just with a good sermon, but I pray that we’ll come out here with a truth that will change us from the inside out.
Three Things: 1. We have a Gift of God 2. We have a Calling by God 3. We have a Purpose for God
So I just give you liberty right now. Lord, move in this place. But people feel, you know, you hear you, it’s all for you and it’s all about you. All the glory goes to you. It’s in your mighty name I pray. Everybody say amen. Paul’s encouraging Timothy here and he’s reminding him of three things we’ve been talking about it. I want to give you a quick reminder of those three things. Three things I want to remind you about. Number one, you have a gift of God. Number two, we have a calling by God. Number three, we have a purpose for God. We have a gift that’s given to us from God. We have a calling by God. Then we have a purpose for God. All three of those things, we have in common. It’s all been given to us before the foundations of the world to grow great with god Mt. Carmel Church.
The first one I will look at here in verse 6 is a gift of God. He said to stir up the gift of God, which is in you. Inside every one of us is a gift. It’s a special present, a gift that’s a present from God that he’s given to us. It means a spiritual endowment or a deposit. So God’s put something, a deposit on the inside of you. You need to grasp that. Now you’re going to need that later, that there’s something been deposited in you. It’s a spiritual endowment from God and he buried it on the inside of you. Okay? That’s what the word gift means. A Greek word charisma. It’s a spiritual endowment. We talked about it, meaning the word, the gift of grace, the ability to leave people feeling whole and not full of holes, feeling whole.
So your gift of God that God put in you fill holes or fills gaps. Your gift fills the gap. Your gift fills the gap in the world around you. Everyone high five and say, “Fill the gap.” You fill a gap. Come on, interact with them a little bit this morning. That’s right. I love always when you just look out over a crowd and you see what levels of participation are happening. People are like, “I’m not touching anybody, buddy.” It’s okay. We’re not forcing you to touch anyone. Okay? Coronavirus. Come on. Nobody is using that.
We Fill a Gap by Using our Gift
But anyway, let’s stay focused. So how do we fill the gap? You said, “Chad, I’ve got a gap or I’ve got a gift and I need to fill the gap.” How do we do it? We fill a gap by using our gift. We’ve all got them. We’re only going to fill the gap when we use it. Remember we read Romans chapter 12 or 6, having then gifted differing according to the grace that is given to us. Let us have gifts differing according to the grace given to us. Let us use them, not protect them, and not save them. Let’s use them. It’s going to take some risks. We have to use them. So when your gift is not being used, there’s the gap, Mt. Carmel Church.
He says, having then gifts differ according to the grace was given to us. Let us use them. When your gift is not being used, there’s the gap. I’ve found an image of what it looks like to have a gap in the road. This is what it looks like. That’s what a gap in the road looks like. How would you like to drive up on that gap in the road doing about 65? Well, we don’t want any gaps in the roads. See what I did there?
It was like a little ripple effect. It took a little while for somebody to grab it. Here at The Roads Church, we don’t want gaps. He wants you to use your gift because you fill in a vacancy. You fill in the gap that somebody else may not fit into and I don’t want anybody to come into our church and falling into your gap. I want them to be able to move on in their relationship with God and when I’m not serving, when you’re not serving, when you’re not using your gift, there is a gap that somebody might fall through. Why? Because each one of us connects with people in different ways. So there’s, there’s a gap but if we’re not using it. It gets to be trouble. So which gap are you filling? I want to give you some statistics real quick just so you know what, how gaps are important here at The Roads Church in Norris City and Mt. Carmel, Church.
Just to put on one service, it takes over 75 people volunteering, 75 people per service. Which gap are you filling for Mount Carmel right now for us to go to Mount Carmel, to go to Sunday morning service? It’s going to take at least 47 people per service to put on service. Which gap are you filling? See, the church used to be simple. You need a preacher and a song leader and maybe somebody to watch the kids. That’s not the kind of church we’re building. We’re not wanting to build a church based on a preacher and a song leader and somebody may babysitting. It wouldn’t it be something based on Jesus Christ, number one, and we’re all in pursuit of him together using our gifts. Everybody using your gifts so that the body can grow and flourish and this what’s needed. We can’t have any gaps, so we’ve got to ask ourselves, which gap are you filling Mt. Carmel Church?
Which gap are you filling? Verse 6, he says to stir up. So if I have a gift of God, it’s our responsibility to stir up the gift of God. Here’s what the word stir up means. It means fresh life to reactivate, to light up again to rekindle or fan the flame. Stir up. You’ve got a gift, but who? Notice what he said to Timothy. You stir up the gift of God in you. He didn’t say, pray that someone else will do it. You stir it up. And what does the word stir up mean? To rekindle the flame to reactivate. So I thought, what does this mean? We need more fire. I thought this image gives an example. This is what he means when he says, stir up the gift of God and you right there, this is Paul speaking to Timothy. Stir up the gift of God. I didn’t have one of those but I did have the next closest thing that I thought today we could stir up some gifts. I want you to understand when it says to stir up the gift to God, we just sang a song this morning that it was burning. Lord burn in me, right Mt. Carmel Church?
We’ll give you a visual of what this looks like. That’s what I’m talking about. Stir up the gift of God. Rekindle, notice what he said. You do it. Don’t you like that fire? I’m just going to point it this way so I don’t burn anybody else. I was a little nervous about doing this in church. I thought, is this going to flame? Is it going to do whatever? But it’s like you got to turn it up and if I turn this little dial on this bad boy, this fire gets more intense. I’d like to burn something right now. I won’t lie. Yesterday Lucas and I were trying this out and we were practicing on a woodpile. I just didn’t want that to touch the carpet. So, we were practicing on woodpile and we got this fire going.
It’s a whole lot better to start a fire with that than it is a match. I’d never done it before. I’m a man. I was like, we got to go on so much that I took this one piece of wood and I got and I wanted to get on there and burn it down and I dropped it on there and it was kind of windy yesterday and I felt this gust of fire and I thought, “Wow, that kind of burnt my face a little bit.” I went inside, Mt. Carmel Church, all my eyelashes and eyebrows were singed. They’re all burnt to say like, you know you’ve got a good fire when you’ve singed your eyebrows, but this is what I’m talking about. Stir up the fire. It stirs up the gift. When we say, “God, I want to burn for you.” That’s not something that happens outside of you.
This is important. To stirrup the fire or stir up the gift of God means you activate what’s on the inside of you. Not for someone else. Do something for me, but you say, “You know what? I’m going to stir this fire up. I’m going to fan the flame in my life.” This is what he’s to stir up the gift. Now, some people may ask this, “Chad, what is my gift? I don’t even know.” We can’t use our gifts if we can’t identify it. I don’t even know my gift. Here’s if you’re not alone. If you’re like, I don’t know what my gift is. Here are some statistics. 80-87% of people in the church don’t know what their gift is. They don’t know what their gift is. Forbes magazine said this in an article that 70% of people hate their jobs.
Fulfillment has to come from the Inside
That’s a lot of people. I believe this is a problem. You don’t talk about the coronavirus being a pandemic, a greater epidemic or pandemic in the world is people not knowing why they were born. It’s a much bigger problem in this world. Two greatest days of your life, the day you were born, the second one of the day. You understand why when you don’t know why you’re born, you just live chasing something blindly. You are chasing after something to fulfill you from the outside. But it’s got to be something from the inside. See we’re not created with something out there that will bring us fulfillment. We’re created with something in here that will bring us fulfillment. But we’re chasing another job with more money or a promotion. This or that, or a new marriage, new relationship, or whatever. Those things will not bring true fulfillment. It’s the gift the inside of you put to use.
I’m not going to understand why I was Created If I don’t have a Relationship with the Creator
It’s going to bring fulfillment in your life. Amen. But now how do we identify this because we can’t properly open a gift. Like if you have a gift, you’ve got to open up where you can’t properly open a gift from God without a relationship with God. Ephesians chapter 2, let me say this again. You cannot properly open a gift from God without a relationship with God. If you’re saying, “Chad, I don’t know what my gift is.” Number one, the most important part is you need to have a relationship with the gift giver. You’ve got to be saved. You’ve got to be born again. I’m not going to understand why I was created without having a relationship with the creator. Look. Ephesians chapter two. I want to tell you something about this. This passage in verse 8, we’ll start reading two important things.
The word by or of speaks of origin or source. I’m going to tell you this before we start reading it because I want to show you something. The word by or of speaks of origin or source and the words for speaks of purpose or goal. Okay? Are you ready for this? So let’s put it together. It’s chapter 2 verse 8, some of you might be familiar with this passage, but I want to make sure when we apply it to how we use our gifts. For by grace. Remember by means, origin or source. So by grace, by God’s grace, by him originated with God. You have been saved through faith. That’s how it comes to us through faith and not of yourselves. It’s not of us. It’s not about us. It doesn’t originate from us there. The source is not us.
Our gift Originates with God, and is not determined by our Works
It’s of God, not of yourselves is a gift of God. So your gift is not of you. It’s from God. Your gift did not originate from you at originated from God. It came from him. So if you don’t like what you got, take it up with God. If you don’t like what he’s gifted you to do, you’ve got to understand he’s the one who originated you. It’s a gift of God, not of works. This is important. It is not of works. Our gift, our salvation is not of works. It’s not the sources, not works lest anyone should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. That’s the purpose, Mt. Carmel Church. That’s the goal which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in. Then what am I trying to say? Here’s what it means. We were saved by God’s grace. and he gave us a gift, but the gift is not of works, but it was created for good works. Here’s what I wrote down, “We’re not saved of works, but we’re created for works. Works are not the source of our salvation, but they are part of the purpose of our creation.” You are saved, not of works, but you were saved for works. In other words, you were saved to do something. You were saved from something, for something.
I was saved from something, not just to be safe from it. I’m saved for something. God didn’t come into my life just to get me out of hell. Okay? That’s not the purpose of you being born again just to punch your ticket. I’m not going to hell. That’s great that you’re not going to hell, but that’s just the beginning of why you’re born. You’re born for something, but the purpose is on the inside of you. I’m not living just thankful that I’m saved. I am, but it’s by grace. It’s not in myself, but I’m not just saying from I’m safe. For your gift is not about works, but it is for works. The purpose, the goal, this is why he saved your life. So now our gift is not one thing. We’ve got to understand this. It’s multifaceted. Your gift consists of the resources for everything available for life. I saw this image in my head. This is what your gift looks like.
Your gift is not one thing. Too many times people get discouraged because they think their gift is all things. Your gift is not all things. It is many things. So this is what your gift looks like. God’s put something on the inside of you that’s not just for one thing. It’s for all kinds of things that you’re going to face in your life. You’re going to face all kinds of different adversity. You’re going to face all kinds of different challenges. You’re going to face all kinds of different scenarios and God says inside you is everything you need to face. Whatever you’re facing, it’s all on the inside of you. It’s all been put there like, “Well, what? I’m going to face this, I’m going to go here. I’m going to do this.” This is something new, but just because it’s new to you doesn’t mean it’s new to God just because it’s surprising you and me today and we’re like, “God, I have to tell you, let’s go and you would not believe it.” He’s like, “Try me.” I would, Mt. Carmel Church.
So he knows this is what our gift looks like. It’s prepared for everything. Our gift is an endowment. Remember I said that earlier of internal resources from God. The gifts of God are planted in us like a seed. I want you to get this. This is very important. Your gift is going to grow and develop in different stages. I thought, “How can I illustrate this God so they get it? So I thought, “How am I going to get it?” So I got this other image. I want to bring this up. I want to ask you a question. This image represents the cycle of a tomato. Which one of those images is a tomato? I know it’s a little bit of a trick question, but we think just the fruit is the tomato. But couldn’t it be argued that the seed is also the tomato?
Couldn’t it be argued that the young plant, the seedling, is also tomato? I know it’s not the tomato you eat, but notice that everything in that seed to become the tomato is already in there. But at different stages, it doesn’t look the same. This is what I want to encourage you with. Your gift is not going to look the same in every stage of life, but it doesn’t mean it’s any less your gift because you’re not seeing the fruit yet of what God’s created you to be. That does not mean you’re not on the perfect path of accomplishing everything that God wants you to accomplish. We get discouraged because if we don’t see fruit, and we want to bail ship. After all, there’s no, you’re right on the perfect path. You’re at the seedling stage. You’re coming into maturity. You’ve got to mature a little bit. Uh, come on. There’s a sermon. All right. In this cycle, we want to bear fruit before we want to mature. You have to grow up a little bit before people start eating off your fruit. And yeah, we have to grow up a little bit because what happens is we start thinking it’s about the fruit and we have to know is it’s not about that. It’s about the process. But in our gift and using our gift, every stage of our gift is different. What you’re doing today may not be the fruit, but it’s important. Without the seedling stage, you will not have fruit. If you pull up that plant at the seedling stage and say, “Well, it’s not a tomato,” and just throw it off to the side, you will never get a tomato.
You may be serving in a gift and using your talent right now to the little bit that you can see and you’re like, “Well, let’s not think big. It’s not anything significant.” But if you pulled up right now, you’ll never see the fullness of what God has for you. The reason we don’t see the fullness of what God wants to do in our life is because we will not be patient enough to get through the stages to see the fruit. You have to ride it out, baby. You want some sexy thing about, “Hey, I want it now. Let’s have it right now.” Behold I do a new thing. Right? That’s great, but sometimes you just have to grow up. Sometimes you just have to walk it out. You have to go through some stages where it doesn’t look pretty or very good.
You have to go through some stages where you don’t look like anything. I know its bad grammar, but it just feels better to say it that way. You’ve got to go through some stages where you’re not getting any applause. You’re not getting any attention. People, Whoa, Jesus. You have to go through stages when people that are looking for fruit go out and look at you and feel disappointed because they don’t see what they want to see, but you’re still right on time for what God wants you to do. I don’t know that you’re getting it, but I’m getting fresh revelation right now. God’s speak to me. See, sometimes people go out and they’re only looking for one thing from you. They’re looking for fruit, and if they don’t see fruit, they don’t think they don’t have any reason for you, or any purpose for you, but God says there’s a purpose. It just hasn’t blossomed yet.
I’m going to fire that torch back up and Jesus, everything you say, it’s important. I’m preaching a check so you just listen. It’s about me and Him knowing everything that you need is on the inside of you. Everything you need to get it through work, to get through school, to get through life, to get through scenarios, it’s in there. You’re like, you know, this is a terrible season of my life, Mt. Carmel Church. I know there’s something in there to get you through it. Look what it says. Colossians chapter 3 verse 23 and whatever you do, do it hardily. Everybody say, “Hardily.” Hardily as unto the Lord, not to men. What does that mean? It comes from today, two Greek words. It means inner self and outer. So everything we do, we live out of our inner self. I want to break this down. Sometimes I talk fast and I want to be slow because I want you to grasp this when we do it heartily as, unto the Lord, we live out of something on the inside of us. Here’s the temptation in the world is not to live out of, but to live for.
Who I am is not of what I do, but what I do is of who I am
The temptation is going to be for us to live for something outside of us instead of out of something inside of us. I wrote this down. Who I am is not of what I do. Come on, get this revelation. Who I am is not of what I do, but what I do is of who I am. I’m going to say it again, who I am, my identity is not of what I do, but what I do is of who I am. It flows out of here. It flows out of who’s on the inside of me. You’ve got to be something internally motivated, not externally. The raise or promotion is a short term motivation because after you get it, what do you want? Another one? There’s nothing that gets that. I’m just saying that we can’t live on outside motivation only. We’ve got to live for an internal.
Who you are is not of what you do, but what you do is of who you are. So are you living from what is on the inside of you or for what’s on the outside of you? Let me go with this. We want to live from our green. We talk about this, how you find out what your purpose is, and how you find out what your gifting is. We talk about living from our green or where’s your green? It’s a passion. It’s three circles intersecting. It’s your passion, what you’re passionate about, what you love to do, what are you’re talented at, or what you’re good at. Number three, what’s your need? These three things God gave me back in 2006 had been part of a basis for how we live. It’s one of our core values. We live from us. We pursue our green. We live from and for His purposes, or what I’m passionate about Mt. Carmel Church.
You should have something that’s internally driven, something you love to do. That’s your passion and God-given. There should be a talent that, that you’ve worked with, something that’s naturally given to you and something that you work with to get better at. And then there’s a need that you feel. If you have a passion and a talent and you don’t fill a need, your gift is wasted. We have to use it. Then we have to fill a gap. This need is the gap and we have to fill that. So now, let me go back to second Timothy chapter 1, so he said, we’ve got us, we’ve got our gift. That was the first thing we’ve got to give to God. Then the third part was have a purpose for God. I want to put this together. We have a purpose for God. According to his purpose, he saved us and called us according to his purpose and grace according to his purpose and grace.
God thought of you when he Created your Purpose
Let me tell you about this. For God, I want to encourage you with this, his purpose, his plan for your life is not separate from you. It’s inclusive of you. So when I say something about, you are created, your gift is for a purpose for God. In times we would try and separate ourselves like me and the purpose of God. The purpose that God has for your life was not exclusive of you but inclusive of you. Plainly stated, God thought of you when he created your purpose. So when you walk in God’s purpose for your life, you’re walking in your best life. You know how we say this,” Hey, how’s it going?” “I’m living my best life.” You know when you’re living your best life is when you’re doing what God’s created you to do, that’s your best life. And when I walk in his purpose, I know that his purpose, he created his thoughts.
He said I know the thoughts that I have for you. Thoughts of a good not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. So everything that he put into your life, he said, I had you in mind. She was like, “I just don’t know if I’m going to like the purpose of God.” Yes, you are. I just don’t know if I’m going to like what God’s telling me now. I feel like God’s telling me to do this, but I want to do this. No, you don’t. You want to do what God’s telling you to. Not because you have to because what’s really on the inside of you that you don’t even know about. How many have ever tried something that you thought you would like and you end up not liking it afterward? Okay, thank you. Two people. I was waiting for actual participation, man, let’s move the clocks back.
Have we not ever tried something that we were convinced would be good and then after we got into it we’re like, “Oh, that’s not so good after.” All right. Are you connecting yet? Right? What happens all the time? So why do we think we’re going to try and outsmart God? God has a plan for your life and he’s already considered what you’d enjoy. It’s a purpose for God, but here’s the gap. So we have this gift of God. We have the purpose for God, and in between is the gap. I have a gift that God’s given me and then I have the purpose. So now let’s look at the next part. You have a calling by God, verse 9, look at it again. Who saved us and called us with a Holy calling. Not according to our works, but according to his purpose. He called us with a Holy calling, saved us. Look at these two things. He saved us and called us with a Holy calling. Saved us is what he did for me, called me is his invitation to join and what He created me to do, Mt. Carmel Church. When it says in the scripture, you saved us. What did he save us from? He saved us from death and destruction. He saved us from hell. He saved us from the penalty. He saved us into a relationship.
Yes, he didn’t save you. We’ve got to stop thinking this way. This is religion. People think that God saved them from something bad. God didn’t save you from something bad. He saved you into something. Yeah. We think we can think the salvation is about getting out of hell. Salvation is not about getting out of hell. Salvation is about getting into a relationship with the creator of the universe because I hear people say a lot of them, “I don’t think hell is going to be that bad.” You’re focusing on the wrong end. I don’t care if hell is not that bad. It’s not going to be that good. You’re, flipping it around and you’re thinking that. It’s just about, “Well, how bad is it going to be? Can I?” It’s not about that. It’s about how good is he? He saved me into something. A relationship with him. It’s going to be so good for you. He saved us into that, but it looked both of these saved and called their hundred percent involuntary in their origination of the words. They were God’s idea.
It was God’s idea to save me, it wasn’t mine. It was God’s idea to call you. It wasn’t yours. It’s one hundred percent involuntary in their origination, but 100% voluntary participation. Did you catch that saving and called 100% involuntary on the origination? I didn’t do it. I didn’t make it up. God did it by grace. Thank you, Jesus, but it is 100% voluntary on my participation with his saving and his calling for my life. Let me give you these two things about the calling of God. Two things that I think you need to know about the invitation of God. Do you know how we give invitations? You know in the church they give invitations, Mt. Carmel Church?
There are two things about the calling of God on your life that I’ve found. These are things that I’ve found in my life. I hope it’ll resonate with you. There are two things you need to know about the invitation of God. Are you ready? There are two things I want to give you about the invitation of God. Two things only. Just two things. Two things you need to know. Are you taking notes yet? Write these down. Two things you need to know about the invitation of God. God wants you to know two things this morning about the invitation. Is anybody ready for these two things? This is building anticipation. You get your pen and you’re like, “Relax.” Two things you need you know about the calling invitation of God, number one, it always lacks details.
The Invitation of God Lacks Details
Yeah. The invitation of God always lacks details. The just shall live by faith. So if we’re going to accept the invitation of God, you have to be flexible. Look at your neighbor and say “Be flexible.” It’s a journey. Hey, let me tell you this about the calling of God. I’ve been at this a while now. You know, I remember when I was young, I preached my first sermon when I was 14 years old and I preached like I knew everything in the world. I mean, I was teaching those people stuff, dropping bombs on them, and straightening them out.
I was preaching six months ago like I knew everything and you know, I was dropping bombs. But here’s what I’ve learned. It’s not about moments. It’s about the journey. 20 some years later, not from when I preached my first time, but into preaching a lot of full time. I’ve learned this. If I’m going to be flexible, a man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. If you’re going to answer the invitation of God, and I’ve answered the invitation of God. I keep answering the invitation and every time I keep thinking he’s going to tell me everything I need to know before I say yes and inevitably every time I say yes, I’m saying yes to something I do not know. If you cannot handle going into the unknown it’s going to be hard.
The Invitation of God Lacks Comfort
No thank you. See, that’s why I let him see him. That’s why he’s singing and I’m free to, my note was much higher, but it was just, but hear what I’m saying. Number one, he’s not going to give you details. The second thing and this is important. The second thing about the calling of God, is it lacks comfort. Where did we get twisted in our thinking? We began to think that Christianity was attached to comfort. Where did we mess up in the message Mt. Carmel Church? Somewhere where we thought Christianity was about me feeling good. We want our Christianity to be based on comfort. We want this kind of Christianity I brought up, this is what we want out Christianity to look like. This is a puppy slide. Can you bring them there? That’s what some people want their Christianity to look like. They want the call of God to look like that. They are just waiting on heaven when in reality, the invitation of God looks like this one. We want the first one but it looks like this one, but here’s the kicker. You were created for this one. You weren’t created for the other one. You weren’t created to lay around and just be comfortable. You were created for conflict. You are created to be a conqueror, not comfortable, and somehow we thought, “God, okay. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. As long as I’m comfortable.” I
It’s not going to be comfortable because here’s what it looks like. Romans 8:37, he had all these things. We’re more than conquerors through him who loved us. There is a gap in the call of God on your life. There is a gap between where you are, your comfort level, and your destination and it looks like this next slide. This is you accepting the call. If you want to accept the call of God, it looks like this. It’s going to look like that. It’s going to be you. They thought I was coming. Notice this little guy, notice where his back feet are planted firmly on and where he’s been, but freely launching forward to where he’s going Mt. Carmel Church.
Here’s what God is speaking to our hearts about, our gift that keeps getting put on the inside of you. Some of you have to jump. You have to leap. You have to go for it. But here’s what we do. We come to the edge. Have you ever wanted to come up to something you were going to jump over it and you come up to it and you’re like, “Okay, let me make sure I got this.”
I remember one time I went down to Kentucky Lake and they have that big rock high place where you can jump off. I remember what it’s called, but it’s a good way. He’s up there and, and I went up there. Yes, it’s a rock quarry. So I went up there and I went over and I looked over the edge and I thought, “Ooh, that’s a good way down.” So the first time I came up, I went and looked again, Mt. Carmel Church.
Sometimes that’s what we’re doing and answering the call. There’s a gap that needs to be filled, but some of the gaps are not going to be filled until you take a job. You’ve got to leap for it. And this is what I’m feeling like God is saying, “Will you accept the gift, the call or the invitation?” I believe God has something for our church, but I believe this is key. God’s wanting you to do more in your life, but you have to jump. You have jump out of comfort, out of the familiar, and into the unknown. I know this about the call of God. Number one, it’s going to lack details. You’re like, “Hey, I need to know a little bit more about what you didn’t.” Number two, it lacks comfort. It’s not about our comfort.
Thanks so much for watching with us. We love our online family and we invite you to connect with us. We have a few different ways you can do that on our website@theroads.church as well as on social media. You can text to give by texting the amount, space roads to four, five, seven, seven, seven and we’d love to pray for any needs you might have. So send us a message and let us know how we can partner with you in bringing the light and love of Jesus to your worlds.
Thanks so much for watching with us. We love our online Mt. Carmel Illinois Church and Norris City Illinois Church family and we invite you to connect with us. We have a few different ways you can do that. Our website is theroads.church. We are on social media as well.
We’d love to pray for any needs you might have. So send us a message and let us know how we can partner with you in bringing the light and love of Jesus to your world.
Sermon Notes: https://theroads.church/sermon-notes/
Website: https://theroads.church
Podcast: https://theroads.church/subscribe-to-our-podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theroadschurch
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theroadschurch