Exodus 3:13-20 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.”
The third common element in the Divine calling of Believers is that every calling has a battle cry. The great “I Am” has sent me to you and this is my name forever. Every Christian needs a battle cry in these spiritual battles today and there re two aspects of that. The first battle cry should be a biblical one that gets you fired up and encourages you to follow God and get on track with what He want you to do. Personal Bible verses can be a great “rally cry” for you. The second is a personal battle cry of a set of stories of the good work that God has been doing in you that remind you why you are a Christian, called to follow God and revs you up. Your own salvation story is a huge part of that set, along with key spiritual moments.
Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Some aspects of God’s calling sound a little extreme at times. This is especially true for people who are not yet following the Lord. They are seemingly crazy aspects as Believers that have crazy blessing on the other side. The first one is this whole concept of waiting for marriage in order to have sex. Sex outside the context of marriage is known as “fornication”. Fornication is defined as the incontinence in terms of lack of self-restraint or lewdness of unmarried persons, male or female. This concept of abstinence (the self-enforced restraint from indulging in sexual activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure) is so taboo today in our hedonistic society. It is considered archaic, outdated, old-fashion, patriarchal, and controlling. Though 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 warns, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God”, we live in a sinful world today that wants to be uninhibited and free to do whatever we want, whenever we want, with whoever we want.
But, our Creator God says. “I have a better way, which is one man with one woman fully knowing each other intimately in the context of marriage, which goes far beyond the physical pleasure; to the emotional righteousness and spiritual holiness. God says that there is no such thing as “safe sex” outside of the marriage union as He designed. You may be able to guard against disease and pregnancy, but the only way to guard your heart and soul is to wait for the wedding day. Whether you call it “having so-called casual sex, hooking up, sleeping together or fornication”, you are sinning against our sovereign, just and holy Creator God, while giving away a part of yourself that you may never be able to get back again. Fornication is evil in the eyes of God. In Mark 7:20-23, the Lord Jesus said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil. eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” Purity, godly morality and faithful obedience to our Heavenly Father is our desire and aim as a child of God. My our thoughts, words and actions be pleasing in His glorious sight always. That is our calling.
Let's conclude PAstor Kyle's message on our calling by God in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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