Sunday 27th October

​Lawrence Kirby shared a message titled,
'Saying Yes to the Call'

Transformation happens from the inside - from your core. 

Sanctification is about continually becoming like Christ 

Proverbs‬ ‭4‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
‭‭
The call of God can hold us in our faith. 

We are all called. We need to get that call solid in our hearts 

If we don’t know our call we’ll flip flop all over the place when things get hard. 

• All people are called to Salvation

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭24‬-‭31‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.””

No matter who we are God wants to draw us to Salvation - Union with Christ. 

Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
‭‭

• We are called to Sanctification/We are called to become like Jesus. 

Some people become more like Jesus even before they’ve trusted and believed in Him or been able to name Him because the Spirit is always at work! 

• We are called to live set apart and holy lives 

2 Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.”
‭‭
Holiness isn’t about behaviour it’s about being set apart for a purpose.

2 Thessalonians‬ ‭1‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.”
‭‭
The Church is called out to live a life separate or set apart from “the world”. We’re called into the Kingdom of God. 

You need to give yourself to the call that God has given you faith for. Say YES to it. 

Your core qualification comes from God and no one else. 

The equipping for your call comes from the Spirit of God within you. 

When you’re living in the call God has given you, yes you bring glory to God but as we do that He also shares His honour with us. We don’t do it for that honour, we do it for Jesus.