Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, October twenty third. If God nudges your heart, are you quick to respond? If you need help recognizing His voice and responding with obedience, stay with us to learn how to listen for and follow the call of God. God's calls are very deliberate. They're very personal.
Very quiet.
Sometimes they're very difficult. That is, he may call us to do something that we either do not know how to do at first, we don't want to do it, we don't like the idea. That does not stop him from calling us.
So I want you to ask yourself the question. Has God ever called me? You see, when God speaks to us, He's got something in mind. It's an opportunity for us, and with that opportunity, always comes the blessing.
So, as you look at your life, your Christian life, and maybe you say, "Well, I'm not even a Christian. God's never spoken to me. Has He or has He not?" Let's think about it for a moment. When you think about how God speaks, you say, "Well, He speaks sometimes through a pastor, or sometimes it's through a book or a tract, through the radio, through the television.
Sometimes a friend.
Sometimes it's some circumstance that's going on in your life. And in the process of that circumstance, you begin to sense that God is trying to say something to you. God is continually calling us in different areas of our life." So what I'd like to do is I would like to sort of share with you the four ways and the four reasons God calls us because He does. And you say, "I'm not a Christian. You're not talking to me." Oh yes, I am.
You say, "I've been a Christian a long time. I don't need you to talk to me." Yes, you do.
So what I want you to do is I want you to listen carefully, and I want us to think about the ways God speaks to us.
Now think about this: God desires to set up a communication with us, to establish communication with us.
So what does He do? The first call of God in anyone's life is the call to salvation, to trust Him as personal Savior. That's the first call. That's how He sets up His relationship with us. Because you see, if you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, you don't have a relationship to God.
Now you may say, "Well, I believe He's up there somewhere, and I can talk to Him, and He talks to me." If you have rejected His Son. You have rejected the means by which you and I establish a relationship with Him. His first call is the call to salvation, and you may not have recognized what's been going on in your life till this very moment when you're beginning to think about it right now, and you're saying, "You know what? I've had these feelings you're talking about." You see, it may be a funny feeling, it may be a strange feeling, it may be a difficult feeling, it may be a very disturbing feeling. That's the work of the Holy Spirit doing what?
Cultivating and stirring you up, so that you will hear and receive the message of the gospel. God's first call is the call to salvation.
Now, for a lot of people, they say, "Well, I'm saved, and that's it." That is not it. That is only the first call.
Now, watch this again. You do not grow into salvation; you become more and more enlightened, more and more understanding, until the moment you receive Him as your Savior. That call finally is answered once and for all. Your sins are forgiven. You become a child of God.
Your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and you are forever secure. Call number one. Call number two is a call that most people never even think about. Your sanctification now. Does that mean a sinless life?
No, and oftentimes we want to take words like sanctification, relegate them to some denomination or so. No, listen, sanctification it is a process. Salvation is an act, no process. Save once and for all. What does He do?
You receive Him into your life. Listen, sets you apart as a child of God for the purposes of God.
Now the Bible says we to live a holy life. What does that mean? Here is what it means. It does not mean a sinless life, because all of us have a little carnality in us, and we're going to falter at times and sin against God at times, not because we want to, because we are weak in certain areas of our life. Probably everybody has some area of weakness, but sanctification is a process.
It begins the moment you are saved, and it lasts for the rest of your life. What is that? That is the Holy Spirit, who came into your life the moment you were saved and sealed you as a child of God. Doing what? Beginning to work and to conform you to the likeness of Christ.
So He's the one who begins to show you this in your life needs to go. This you need to add to your life.
So what happens? Little by little, God begins to work righteousness and holiness as a way of life into our life. You and I will never reach a stage in our life where He is not calling us to sanctification, where He's not calling us to live a holy life. God calls us to salvation. That's an act of the grace of God.
He also calls us to sanctification. To live godly, to live holy, to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in our conduct and our behavior. Have you ever made a decision? Have you ever made a simple, but very personal, honest to goodness decision to say, Lord Jesus? I do want to walk holy.
I do choose to be obedient. I choose to live the sanctified life. And God, when I fault and fail, bring it to my mind quickly, so that I may repent of it and move on in the Godly life to which You've called me. Second call is the call to a holy life, the call of sanctification. The third call is the call to service.
And there are lots and lots of verses. But I want you to turn, if you will, to Ephesians chapter two for a moment. And this passage, most Christians probably believers who know nothing about the Bible know these passages. But listen to view of the second chapter, in verse eight and nine says, "For by grace you've been saved." Period. You've been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it's the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are His workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we can walk in them. Listen to that. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them.
Now, when He uses the word walk in the Scriptures, that means serving God should be a part of our daily life.
So, let me ask you this question. Once and for all, you've been saved. You're in the process of sanctification, walking a holy, godly life. Have you ever said to God, "Lord, I'm willing to serve you anywhere, any time. All you have to do is tell me what to do." I want you to turn, if you will, to First Peter.
Go back over to First Peter, chapter four, because. You think about this. You have to ask yourself the question: Would this be you? How many people go to church Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, and you like hearing the message, and you love singing the songs, and giving, and praying, and so forth? But let me ask you this: In what way are you serving the Lord?
Look at First Peter chapter four, verse ten: As each one has received a special gift. Employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. God has called us to serve Him. He hasn't called us just to be saved, just to be forgiven. He's called us to serve Him.
Now think about this: Why didn't God save you one day and take you home to heaven right then? He could have. Why did He leave you here? As a representative, as an ambassador, but not only that, God has chosen to carry out His work in the world through those of us who are saved and give our lives to Him. That we're not talking about preachers, missionaries, musicians, and educators.
We're talking about every single one of us, every single one of us who is saved has a responsibility to serve the living God. And somebody says, "I'm just not gifted." We just read. He says, "Every one of you has received a special gift." You say, "Well, there's nothing special about my life." That doesn't mean that you can do something no one else can do. It means this. Watch this.
That God has tailored a gift. Just for you, that fits you in His plan and His purpose for your life, and so no one can say, "Well, you know, I was under the steps when God was handing out the gifts, so I didn't get any." God has given you a special gift in your life, specially tailored and suited for what He wants you to be and what He wants you to do in your life.
So, I want to ask you this question: What are you doing to serve the Lord? You say, "Well, now, no. What are you doing to serve the Lord?" Now, you may say, "Well, I'm not a pastor. I haven't been to seminary, and I can't say." There are lots of ways to serve God besides that. There are many ways to serve the Lord, but I want you to think about this: What specific thing are you doing?
That would fall in the category of serving the Lord. It may be that you're one of those persons that you are by nature, and God has gifted you to be a tremendous encourager. And it may be that the greatest thing you do is when you go to your job on Monday morning or whatever day it is, and you walk up to somebody and say, "I just want you to know, I I was thinking about you. Then I was praying for you today." All you may say to somebody. Because it's your purpose to encourage, you do this in the name of Jesus.
You don't say, "I'm a Christian. I'm doing this for Jesus' sake." No, you just walk up and say, "I just want you to know you're looking absolutely fantastic today. Oh, you did a great job. You know what? You are sharing the listen the encouraging message of Jesus to those people.
Or you may say to someone, "I would just love to pray for you. Tell me what I can pray for." Now there are thousands of ways to serve the living God. I think about, for example, all the nurses and all the doctors there are out there who should certainly see themselves as servants of the living God, who's equipped them with knowledge and skill and experience and understanding. And here they're dealing with people who are hurting, who have lots of doubts, who are afraid. I think about the kind of awesome testimonies, the kind of awesome service that could be given to someone while they're doing something.
Physical for them, they could also do something spiritual for them. Servants of the living God, every single one of us is a servant. You work in a store, for example, and you say, "Well, you know, I work in a hardware store. I work in some department store. How can I be serving God?" Here's how you can serve Him: that you always have a gentle spirit, that you're kind, that you have a genuine spirit of service.
You want to help the person. If they're complaining and moaning and groaning and just giving you a fit, you just smile and say thank you very much, and we'll correct this. In other words, there are lots of ways to serve God, and see what He wants above everything else is the spirit. He wants us to reflect Him. Watch this.
If I'm living a sanctified life, I'm going to reflect Him, no matter what. And we think the only way to serve God is to do it inside the church building. Another way to serve God is this: Let's say, for example, you're a painter or a plumber. Say, man, I work. I'm out there by myself painting.
Every how can I serve God? Give them the best paint job they could possibly get. Fix whatever needs to be fixed the best you can do it. Thank God for the privilege that you have to work, and you are serving somebody by helping them do something that they cannot do. And most of us are not very mechanically minded.
At least I'm not. And so when I need some help, I have to call somebody for the simple reason I don't know how to fix anything electrical. I don't know how to fix any plumbing. I don't even know how to do anything about a car, but drive it. If I need help, I have to find somebody else.
You know what? God's made all of us different. He's given all of us different skills, so we can do what?
So we can serve one another in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So what I want to ask is this: Have you ever said to Him, "You said I'm trusting You as my Savior. I choose to live a godly life." Have you ever been willing to say to Him, Lord, because You're my Savior, my God, You've done so much for me. I offer myself to You to serve You any way I possibly can. You can send me anywhere to do anything. You've promised to equip me and to anoint me with the Spirit of God to enable me to do whatever you've called me to do.
So here I am, Lord, as your servant. Have you ever said that to him? Most people never have. You can ask any pastor in the world. Say to them, "Do you have a need for workers in your church?" Oh, yes.
This church, every church. Why do we have so many people?
So many tasks, so many places of responsibility, and there is so many more people than there are servants. I'll tell you why: because many people have never said, "Father, you own me; you possess me. Everything I have is yours. You can take away any of any of any time you want to. I owe you my life.
What you want me to do? I may not do the best job in the world, but I'm willing to do the best I can." Whatever you have me to do, Father, the answer is yes. You see, number three will not happen until number two happens, and you choose to live a godly life. First, there's salvation. Then there's the choice to live a godly, sanctified life, which is life of obedience to Him.
And then what a life of service wherever He calls you to.
Now there's one more.
Now watch this one. First one, you don't want to be saved, shut it out. You can say no. Secondly, you don't want to live a godly life. No.
Thirdly, you don't want to serve God. No. But His one call you don't have anything to do with, and that is the call to accountability. One of these days, you and I are going to stand before the Lord, and when we do, here's what's going to happen: we're going to have to give an account. But whether we were saved or not, whether we lived a godly life or an ungodly life, and whether we served Him or not, I want you to turn to one verse.
There are many verses we could turn to. Fourteenth chapter of Romans. Listen to what He says. Romans fourteen.
So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
There is a judgment in which you and I will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ to give an account for our life. Did we trust Him as our Savior? Did we live a godly life? Did we serve Him?
Now think about this. One of these days, this is an inescapable, unavoidable time. Of an appointment, a destiny in our life, when we stand face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ, and you know what? There will not be any excuses offered in the presence of God. People say, "Well, here's what I'm going to tell Jesus: No, you're not." In the presence of holy God, the last thing is an excuse for an unholy life.
Now, think about this for a moment. Every single one of us chooses to be saved or not to be saved. We choose to live godly or not to live godly. We choose to serve God, or we choose to serve ourselves, all the days of our life. The judgment we have no choice.
It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment.
So then every one of us shall give an account of himself and herself to God. What are you going to say when you rejected Jesus? What are you going to say when you lived an ungodly life? What are you going to say when you've served only yourself? And what are you going to say when you stand the presence of the very one who died for your sins?
Now, some of you listening to this, you say, "Well, I'm not going to think about it." Oh, yes, you are. You've heard too much to forget it now. Remember this.
So then, every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. And I want to challenge you: if you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, to ask Him to forgive you of your sins and tell Him you're fed up with life the way you've been living it. You want life at its best, and you acknowledge your sinfulness, and you trust Him as your Savior. If you've never made a commitment. To live a holy life, make it now.
If you've never committed yourself, I'm willing to serve God, Father. Whatever you say, make it now, so that when you stand at the end of the fourth call in the presence of the living God, you can hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Here's your reward." It's real simple and clear. I'm either going to be saved. I'm going to be lost.
I'm going to live godly or ungodly, and I'm going to serve Him or serve myself. But the judgment I must face. And Father, we pray the Holy Spirit will sink this simple truth into every single heart. That there is no escape. It's absolutely unavoidable.
It's inevitable that we'll one day stand before You. And I pray that the Holy Spirit is convicting even now, and people are making decisions even now—a decision to trust you as Savior, decision to walk godly, a decision to serve you wholeheartedly all the days of our life. And we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Thank you for listening to part two of the Call of God. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online twenty four seven station.
And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or Intouch Ministries, stop by intouch dot org. This podcast is a presentation of Intouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
