Your calling, what God wants out of you, is always bigger than you could pull off on your own. Dr. Tony Evans talks about the challenge of living a life that matters. And if you want to know God's will for you, you've got to be in His presence. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. We often admire those whose talents are easily recognized, but Dr. Evans reminds us that God has given each of us unique gifts. Today he explores how to identify those gifts and discern the best ways and times to use them.
Let's join him as he gets started. Now I'm not an expert or near an expert when it comes to the issue of music. I know I can't sing. You know I can't sing.
So it's really a collective body of knowledge on that subject. But I think all of you know what falsetto is. Falsetto is singing outside of your natural voice. It's where a second tenor goes up the first tenor, or perhaps a baritone goes up the tenor. If you're in falsetto, you're not designed to stay there.
You're designed to visit there and come back. When people come to the choir, I would assume that they are placed where their natural voice is, not where their falsetto is. Just as some people sing in falsetto, others serve in falsetto. They operate outside of their natural calling.
They're functioning not where they were naturally designed to be. Like a falsetto voice, you can only do that for so long. When you are functioning outside of God's appointment for your life, it may seem good for a while, but after the stress and the strain of the service, after you've been doing it for a while, you will begin to notice that it's beginning to squeak.
It doesn't sound or seem very good. Today, in keeping with our series, I want to focus in on another kind of fasting, and I've called it, for want of a better phrase, fasting for your ministry. Fasting, of course, is the process of giving up a craving of the body because of a deeper need of the Spirit. In fasting, you intensify prayer. You take praying to a higher, deeper, more impactful level. When you combine communication with God with giving up on yourself and its desires, you have intensified the spiritual connection. One of the things and one of the reasons that that is done is so that I can find my calling and fulfill my ministry. I'm concerned about the amount of Christians who have no sense of divine appointment, no sense of spiritual destiny. Yes, for some, it may be to a foreign mission field somewhere, or to some people, it may simply be a representative of Christ in the business world or in some other aspect, an educational system, in the medical field.
It can be any number. Sometimes it's combined with your job. Other times, your job simply facilitates you doing your ministry. It is a sense of the hand of God resting on me to serve Him in this way. In Acts chapter 13, we have a wonderful thing where fasting is connected with the appointment of God to ministry.
First of all, of the four principles I want to share with you is the purpose of ministry fasting. Now, please notice that the church has begun. The Church of Jesus Christ has now started. It is in full-fledged operation, and verse 2 says that this church was in a city called Antioch. Verse 2 says, and while they were ministering to the Lord, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Now, the first thing I want you to notice is that this is not the Old Testament. This is the New Testament church. So while fasting dominates the Old Testament scene, the reason why it's not spoken of as much in the New Testament is because it was automatically carried over, as you can see in the church at Antioch.
It was part of the life of the congregation. While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, this is a continuous presence, they were regularly doing this to see the move of God in the life of the church in many different ways, and in this case, in God giving guidance to the church about the direction it should go congregationally, and then specifically in the life of two of its men. If you are confused about the issue of what God would have you to do, he says the way to get clarity is through fasting. And so, in the midst of desiring to find out the will of God, they were gathered together to search the mind of Christ. Before you can find out what God wants you to do next, you have to be doing something for God now.
If you're doing nothing for God now, why should he show you more so you can do nothing? Paul and Barnabas, who he's going to speak about directly, were already involved with ministry. They were already involved in serving God. Look at chapter 11, verse 30, and this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders. And that way, they took some financial relief funds to the church of Jerusalem because of economic woes that they were experiencing. That's what Barnabas and Saul did. Look at chapter 12, and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem where they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John, who they called Mark. So they went to Jerusalem, came back after fulfilling their mission.
They did a little, and now God's going to give them a lot more. Don't be doing nothing talking about God won't show me anything to do. Do something so that God can lead you into the next thing he has for you to do. Now, what was the process of finding their ministry or their calling?
What actually took place? Verse 2 tells us, while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said. There is a connection in verses 2 and 3 between worship, fasting, and prayer.
Because in verse 3, he adds prayer to the list. They were ministering to the Lord, ministering to the Lord, ministering to the Lord. To minister to the Lord is to get your praise on. There could be a million other people in the room, but when you're ministering to the Lord, you're focused on one person.
That's God. As they were fasting, giving up food, and ministering to the Lord, absorbed in worship, which is combined with praying, they made a connection. Because verse 2 says, the Holy Spirit said. Now that raises a question, because you've got a talking Holy Ghost here. First of all, let me suggest to you that this is not unusual in the Scripture.
Let me just show you a few places. In Acts chapter 8, verse 29. And as he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading Isaiah, verse 29, the Spirit said to Philip, go up and join the chariot.
That's with the Ethiopian eunuch. How did he know to join the chariot? The Spirit sent him on the mission. Chapter 10, verse 19. It says, and while Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking for you. The Spirit told him.
Chapter 13, verse 4, where we are right now. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit, folks, is not Casper the friendly ghost. The Holy Spirit is not some amorphous thing. He is real. He is a person, and he talks. He's a person, therefore he speaks. And if you've never heard the Holy Ghost talk to you, then you're missing out on the experience of the Christian life.
There's nothing like hearing God talk and call your name. Notice what the Spirit said. Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Please notice the specificity of the speech. Not set apart y'all. Not set apart some folk. Set apart a man named Saul and a man named Barnabas to the specific task to which I have called them.
Oh, I like that. Because when God calls me, I don't want to hear your name. I want to hear my name. I want to know that I've been called to preach. I want to know that I've been called to...
I want to know what my charge is. The Holy Spirit doesn't call them in generalities. He calls them in specificity. He calls them individually. But He called them when they were in God's presence.
He called them when they were in a transfixed state of worship. And if you want to know God's will for you, you've got to be in His presence. Dr. Evans will return with more in just a moment. But first, if these messages on the subject of fasting are hitting home, you need to know they're only a small part of his two-volume collection on the subject.
The set is called Fasting, the Key to Spiritual Victory. Tony has packed quite a bit into this series, and all 14 messages are our gift to you when you make a contribution to help support our work here at The Alternative. And for a few more days now, along with the audio messages, we'll also send you the Cultivating a Year of Kindness Perpetual Flip Calendar, filled with inspiring quotes, scriptures, and insights from Dr. Evans that will help encourage you to enjoy a life marked by the goodness of God. To take advantage of this limited-time offer, visit tonyevans.org or give us a call at 1-800-800-3222 and let a friendly member of our resource team help you out. I'll repeat that contact information after Part 2 of today's lesson and this.
I urge you to take this course. Dr. Craig Evans is a leading expert on the New Testament, and he's talking about the Tony Evans Training Center course on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible. It covers very important ground, what they are and what they're not. Discovered nearly 80 years ago by Bedouin shepherds, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide unparalleled insights into the accuracy of the Bible. These ancient manuscripts offer a treasure trove of historical and spiritual significance. They preserve for us the Hebrew Bible and shed light on the teaching of Jesus and the major contributors to the New Testament. The scrolls open a vivid window into the life and beliefs of the Jewish people during the time of Jesus. You will understand the Bible and Jesus and Christian origins better than you ever have before. Take your first step as an honorary amateur archaeologist.
Explore the Dead Sea Scrolls and discover other fascinating biblical studies at tonyevanstraining.org. Explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere. How do you hear the Spirit's voice?
That becomes the question. How do I know it's God talking? How do I know it's the Spirit talking to me? How can I be absolutely sure he's calling my name to do this task? He tells us when he starts the verse, there were located in this church prophets and teachers.
Why does he say that? Because God always starts talking through his word. Now what's the difference between a prophet and a teacher? A teacher was one who would communicate a clear understanding of the word of God.
That was a teacher. A teacher is when a clarity of what the Bible means by what it says is given. But that's not what a prophet did. A prophet did say, thus saith the Lord.
But watch this now. What a prophet did was he took what God said and applied it to a specific situation. In other words, when a prophet came out, he didn't just do what a teacher did and help you understand it. A prophet always said, thus saith the Lord about what you're facing right now. A prophet always applied what God said. He never just recited what God said and explained what God meant. So if you want to hear the Spirit's voice, you've got to be around the proclamation of the word.
That's part one. Number two, there's a second way that they knew it was the Spirit. It was validated by others. The Spirit said, set me apart, Barnabas and Saul, to the work which I have called them. If God is telling you something through his word, he's going to validate it through other spiritual people.
That's why the Bible says in a multitude of counsel, there is safety. Now, I'm not talking about a bunch of carnal folk who wouldn't hear God talking if he walked up in the flesh. I'm talking about other folk who are ministering unto the Lord. These folks were all ministering to the Lord, and it became validated. It wasn't determined by what everybody else thought. It was just recognized by others. When Timothy was appointed to his position in the church at Ephesus, there was the laying hands on the presbytery who had recognized his calling.
That's the whole point of laying on of hands. That means we agree. When you send somebody to the mission field, we agree. God has validated it.
Look at it happening in Acts 15. There was a controversy in the church at Jerusalem, and there was a controversy about a doctrinal issue, and James, who's the leader of the church, verse 13, and after they had stopped speaking, everybody had an idea. Everybody had a viewpoint. They wanted to run it by committee. That wasn't working.
They weren't getting anywhere. James comes up and says, Brethren, listen to me. So he took what we call senior pastor privilege. He says, brother, listen to me, and he comes out and gives renders.
You can read the chapter, but he renders a decision. He says, I'm hearing all these voices, everybody has a view, but this is the way to approach this issue. He makes a definitive statement about how to handle the problem, and he speaks on God's behalf. But please notice something found throughout the chapter, verse 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, verse 25. It seemed good to us, having become of one mind, verse 28. And it seemed, watch this, good to the Holy Spirit and to us.
You see the phrase? It seemed good. In other words, what God had led James, the apostle, to render as a decision to solve some confusion that had come into the church seemed good to others. There was a validating process. It didn't determine the calling. It just validated it.
So if you feel that God wants you to go into this area of ministry and you feel that that's what he has spoken to you through a preacher, through a sermon, through a word that you heard, validate it by other spiritual people who are trustworthy and who don't mind ministering to the Lord with you. But that's not the only thing. There's another thing that's here about the speaking of the Holy Spirit.
He says, verse two again, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them. That is very important. They had already been called prior to the validation. Watch this now.
You see the E.D. on called? They had already been called. God had already let them know privately what he was having in mind. Maybe not all the details, but he had already let them know, guys, I have a job for you to do. So God stirred their own hearts about what they were to do coming from the word of God that was recognized by the broader church.
That's why every member should be plugged into a local church because then you have a validating community. But it came because he had already called them. In other words, God let everybody else know outside what he had already done inside. Your calling always starts on your inside, what he stirs your heart to do.
And let me tell you something. Anything you're not stirred to do, you're not called to do. God always stirs the heart. He stirs the heart. He stirs the inside. You do it when you don't want to do it because it's a calling. It's a calling. It may be the hardest thing in the world, but it's a stir.
In other words, when you think about not doing it, you know you'll be out of the will of God. So he simply tells the church to set them free, verse 3. Lay hands on them and send them away.
Cut the cord, release them. And guess what? These are the two strongest men in the church.
These are the two of the strongest guys going. But they were called. Finally, let me just summarize this by saying a word about the productivity of ministry fasting. When Paul and Barnabas are sent out, you now have missions. Because prior to Paul and Barnabas being sent out by the church at Antioch, there was no worldwide missionary program. There was no organized missionary effort. The gospel had not gone westward.
He had written no letters. But once the church sent him out to his calling, the gospel now opens up to the whole Roman Empire. Paul writes 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament so that God is now going to use him to write much of what we read today. The gospel is going to go all over the place in the book of Acts. It's really what happens when God causes men in the public service and everything opens up. World evangelization begins to take place. The gospel goes forth.
They're now able to move in the direction of faith. And let me tell you something about your calling. Your calling, watch this now.
You're listening? Your calling is always bigger than what you could do on your own. Let me say that again. Your calling, what God wants out of you, is always bigger than you could pull off on your own. If you can do it already without God, it's not your calling. Your calling is always bigger than anything you could do on your own. That's why God has to break us before he can use us to let us know how small we are, to let us know how insufficient we are in our own strength. Your calling is always bigger than you.
So if you can do it without prayer, do it without dependency, do it in your own strength, either that's not your calling or you're not ready to be called. God had some big plans for Paul and Barnabas. They were bigger than they could ever dream of. Who would ever think that Paul would open up the whole western world to the gospel, would become the leading writer of the New Testament? He had a big task because he had a big God.
It was a big call. And that's why many of us don't want to know our call because we don't want to know this big thing. That's why people always talk about resisting their calling. What's your ministry? How are you serving God? If you don't know, fasting and prayer.
While you worship, you'll hear the voice of the Spirit say in your heart and to others through the proclamation of the Word and the charge to keep you'll have and a God to glorify. Dr. Tony Evans, sharing the promise that God will direct your heart and hands in ministry. Now if you'd like to get the complete full length version of this message, check with us for details on the title, Fasting for Ministry. Better yet, get it as a part of Tony's powerful sermon series, Fasting the Key to Spiritual Victory. As I mentioned earlier, it's available, but only for a few more days now, as a gift and appreciation for your donation to the ministry.
We'll send it to you along with a special bonus, the perpetual Cultivating a Year of Kindness flip calendar. Visit tonyevans.org today to get all the details before time runs out. Again, that's tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center is open 24-7. That's 1-800-800-3222. Hearing stories of what God has done for others can be incredibly inspiring, but let me ask you, what has he done for you lately? If you need more than a second or two to come up with an answer, then you'll want to tune in tomorrow as Dr. Evans presents a powerful message on building an intimate relationship with God. Be sure to join us.
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