Living in God's Call

The speaker discusses living in God's call and how to live in the resurrection. They emphasize that God is love and that we can only understand His love when we see Him face to face. They mention that love has been corrupted in our understanding, but God's love is pure. They talk about how love has been with us through our struggles and victories, and how God knows exactly what we need. They emphasize the importance of reading the Bible to understand God's love and His call in our lives. They mention the Great Commission in Matthew 28, which calls us to make disciples of all nations. They discuss the importance of discipleship and following Jesus' example. They also mention that God can move us and change our circumstances for the better. They emphasize the need to obey God's call and not be disobedient. They conclude by discussing how we can hear from God. Welcome to CCI Fellowships podcast. Thank you for joining us. At CCI Fellowship, we are reaching God, reaching each other, and reaching our community. We pray that this week's message challenges you in your walk with the Lord, causes you to grow in your faith, and encourages you in your love for the Word of God. Okay, so living in God's call, that's the name of it. So how are we going to live in God's call? I was sitting at Easter breakfast, just minding my own business. And then I started praying through this, and I said, God, so what do we do now? The resurrection is here. How do we live in the resurrection? What is our resurrection life going to look like, living in Jesus' resurrection? So that was, what, almost a month ago, three weeks ago. And so as I was moving around through that, I started studying certain things that are going on. And then about a week after that, John texted me. He says, hey, can you preach the 21st? I says, yeah. He says, okay, thanks. And that's it. So that's how you get called up here, on a guy's text. Now I know it would be more flowery if it was a woman's text, but I'm not. But I was excited, not because I want to be up here, but it's because I knew God was going to pour into me in that ten days, and He has not disappointed me. I have woken up, like at four in the morning, after He set the outline. He sets the outline for me. I look up verses, I study it, and then I started praying through it. I was waking up at four or five in the morning, which I don't because I like to sleep until eight. I like the idea of a good, solid nine hours of sleep. So He's waking me up, and something else was rolling in my head, and I'm looking for the introduction for this. And I said, what do you want me to say, Lord? So He led me through it. So every morning for the last ten days, this is what I've been going through. So, I've been praying that it comes out like He has, like He has said it. And there's three words that I want to tell you that what He's told me to tell you is God is love. God loves you like nothing else that you can ever imagine. And I'm not the love guy. I'm like the revelation guy. I'm looking for those two books to be opened, and I get to see Jesus face to face. I'm not the love guy because love has been corrupted. In the English language, Spanish, French, whichever language you use, there's been a corruption in our view of love. But God is love. There is no way on this earth that we will ever understand God's love until we see Him face to face because of the struggles that we've been through living in a sinful world. Love has seen you through all of your defeats, all of your stress, but He's seen you through these victories as well. I cannot say that He is an awesome God. He's a wonderful God. All the God things that we learn in all of our songs, because no pronoun should be placed in front of God because God is God. His love is His love. And you can't understand it right now like I've said. The Bible, His Word, gives us indications of what that life could be. What the life in love will be. Love was thinking about you, created you before the world was established. Love placed the seed in the womb that you were born in. Love knew exactly where you would be raised as a child, as an infant, as an adult. He knew exactly what you needed, when you exactly needed it. Not wants, not our wants, but His need, our need. Love brought you up out of the valleys and He celebrated you with you on the mountains. Love knew what you would be. He knew where He would place you and He will move you around as He needs. And later you'll find out and look back and say, man, I sure needed that. We've been moved around. And every time I look back and I see God, we needed that for us. Love knew who your parents would be. And He knew your parents would not be perfect. He knew that you would not be perfect. Because we're being raised in a sinful world with expectations that are in the world. For tonight, this is the world. This is the kingdom of heaven. Not where you guys are sitting, but where I'm at. And let's not mess it up. So He knew where you were in the world. He knew how you'd be raised. And He still raised you up. And He moved you and moved you. And He gave you that. Here's your Savior. Here's the world. Which one will you love? Will you love what the world has or what the Savior is promising? And every step along the way will be the best life that you've ever lived. Love fights your battles. And He loves your victories. And I don't like the nouns. I don't like the verbs. But I know that's part of language. And I know adverbs and all that. But I'm not the English guy either. So when I say love, that's God. There's no better love than God. And that's what He wants you to know tonight. So whenever I talk here, I always have that basis. He loves you. He knows exactly what you need at the right time. But how do I prove that? How do I prove that because we've had these relationships that have failed that we thought would be good? How would we prove that? You read the book. And the greatest gift that God has given us is to love God. Love, love because He is the one that needs, not needs the relationship, He is the one that wants the relationship. We need that relationship with God. And we have a choice. Choose the world. Choose the kingdom of God. Seems easy. But our love has been twisted because of definitions that change. It seems like the evil one is attacking the Word of God because these definitions are changing. Love was changed into evil things that are over here in the world that we think we love, but we don't actually love that because in our bodies we are searching for love. Our souls are crying out for love. Where is the love over here? You have to come over here for the true love because God is love. So now is the right time. Let's open your Bibles. Nothing. Where are we? Oh, you have to say the verse. If you can open your Bibles to 1 John chapter 4 verses 15 to 17 and you will see it up here. So let me read it. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love. And whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. For this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment because as he is, so also are we in this world. When God speaks to you, test it by what Scriptures say. If you hear someone say God is love and does this and he will give you this, test it against his word. If you read it in Scripture, it's in his kingdom. God is with us, he transforms us. When we get later in the message, you're going to be looking at Scripture going, at least I did. That's not me. I can't do this. God is transforming us every day and we might not want it, but he knows us and he knows exactly what we need. When you read the Bible, when you read Scripture and you're brought to a verse, is God doing that? More than likely. So what is God's call in our life? This is number two now. We had number one, we go now to step two. Point two in the preaching. So what is our call? What is God's call in our life? You've heard it a lot from this altar about God's call. So this is God's call. The Great Commission in Matthew 28, verses 16-20. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him. But some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So living in God's call is working through the Great Commission, hearing God, testing his word, and how do we hear from God? What is our example to the world? And then fear. So what is God's call? According to Matthew's gospel, go and make disciples of all nations. Okay? Baptize them. Make that public proclamation of their faith. Help them. Speak to them. Disciple them. Sit down with them, the people who are seeking, from new people to seasons, Christians. Sit down with them and talk about God's things. That's discipleship. Go and make disciples. Sit down with them. If God calls you to another nation or to another location, he can do that too. Teach them to observe or follow all that he has given us. How do we do that? Scripture, Jesus' life, and written testimonies that you read about in the Bible. When Paul wrote to Timothy in chapter 3, verse 10-11, you, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them, from all of them, the Lord rescued me. Paul reached out to the Lord. He answered his prayers. Paul prayed, save me from these persecutions on earth. And he will be with us. He is with us until the end. Seems easy. So, we're saved now through Jesus' resurrection. We have the call. What do we do with it? Do we just sit back? Sit back and say, no, this is okay. I could sit back. I have an easy life. But remember what Pastor John preached a couple weeks ago. If you don't answer his call, if you don't do what he says, that's still disobedience. Obedience is good. Disobedience is not good. Our Lord will move us, his people, at his will. And the move will turn out to be the best change you've ever made. Place to place, idea to idea. It's not just physical movement. He will move you into where you need to be thinking about for either the next time, the next day, something like that. He can move you into a relationship, from one relationship to another. And that's where we learn, when we grow, relationship to relationship, on and on. Next point, how do we hear from God? So, physically, how do you hear from God? Now, you're probably answering these questions in your head, because I know I did. But he does speak to us. And you've heard it from this altar many times. So that's why when John calls, I didn't have to worry about me stressing out. I figured he heard from God. So let's go. So how do you hear from God? Scriptures. He has left for us his Word. The most important thing that you can do each day is read the Bible. Portions, chapters, whatever you can make it through. And you might not like what I say next. I love technology, but this is Scripture. This is the Bible. What you're looking at in your phone, yes, it is. But no one can write in this book and change it. But there's something on the horizon with our artificial intelligence, that stuff. Can you imagine reading one day in a Bible electronically? Has that been changed? Has it been written by a computer? When you're sitting down and reading the Bible, and your children come in and run to you and say, what are you doing? I need you over here. I need you over there. I know, I've had kids. I know what it is. Would you say, give me ten minutes, I'm reading the Bible. Because they see physically that you're reading the Bible, and not just scrolling. When you hold this Bible, and you're in a coffee shop, and you have a coffee break, or you're going to meet with friends or something like that, or even going on vacation with other people, and you have the Bible in your suitcase, it doesn't have to be, this is a study Bible, so it's thick, it's heavy. But they will recognize you when you have ten minutes in the morning, or ten minutes in the coffee shop reading a physical Bible. What is that? That is our representation to the outside world that we're Christians. And that's our witness right there. This Scripture is solid, true, excellent. 2 Timothy 3, 16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. I want that. But remember, sometimes people corrupt the Word. Sometimes people corrupt the Bible by false teaching. You know the false teachers are coming. You know the false prophets are out there. But you have to test it against His real world. And this was back in the early 2000s, where a noted pastor decided to preach on love, and he said, everybody goes to heaven. And that took off. And it was books. It was new. But when you read through the Bible, it's not just in Revelation. There's one side, and there's the other. And not everybody will be blessed to go to heaven. Reading the Bible is walking with God and God walking with you. It is Genesis. Okay, that's not... Okay, it's over here. Genesis to Revelation. The Alpha to the Omega. It is everything that you need to make it through your day. The next one is teachings. Pastors' messages. Everything is on the Bible. Pastors' messages. Everything is online. Scripture, podcasts, everything. Learn. Again, test these in Scripture. There is through prayer. How many times when we pray for people, do you actually wonder, is that really going to work? Are we praying the right thing? So we're in the Old Testament. I'm reading from Judges. The birth of Samson. There was a certain man of Zorah of his tribe. This is Judges 13 verses 2 and 3. The tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, Behold, you are barren and have not born children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Let's jump ahead to verse 8. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, please let the man of God who You sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with this child who will be born. And God listened to the voice of Manoah and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in a field. He prayed. God answered. And I know there's been a lot of prayers prayed. I know there have been just pleadings to God for children. Pleadings to God for husbands and wives. And I know we've prayed looking for that miraculous thing. And in Scripture, it is verified. It's not only verified in the Old Testament, it's verified in the New Testament. The Lord listens to you and He will lead you through the valleys that you are in. Listen. You have to listen for God. You have to clear the clutter that's in your world. All the clutter that's over here that's going through your head, you have to clear it out. So how do you do that? Sit in silence and solitude. God sent us a mediator and a helper. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men. And Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2.5 John 14.26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. So you sit in silence. You meditate on verses. If you're thinking and saying, I've got to learn more about love, you go to Scripture. How about nature? When you sit in nature, you're not seeing the haze that's over the city. You're not seeing the traffic and all of the worldly things. So you sit in nature. You sit in trees. You take a day off. Nature will remove the visual clutter that is in your head that picks up in your head. The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaim His handiwork. Psalm 19.1 Remove the noise in your head and learn to forget. Does anyone know, as you see the words to the left over there? Anybody know what those are? Besides words? That's what we test. That's the words that I am testing on my verses, on the preaching that I hear and the podcasts that I listen to. Testing His voice from the voice to determine which is true. Paul is speaking to the Philippians 4.8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Whatever you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. God does not send you to dark places. He does not send you into someone that says you're not good enough. He is true. He is honorable. He is just. Next point is obedience. If you hear God saying something, do it. It's baby steps. He might say walk this way. Well, no, I want to walk this way. I want to drive this road. No, you want to drive this road because that road has the accident that you don't know about and you'll be sitting there four hours. I've sat in this traffic for four hours and we didn't move coming down the hill. So it's baby steps. He is giving you ideas. He wants to see what your obedience is. And you have to know to walk in His voice as well, to hear Him. It's obedience. You gain confidence. Next point. Discipleship. And that's a term we toss around a lot in Christian circles. But to have the ability to share our faith with a brother or sister sitting down, having coffee, walking with them, walking in nature. Just walking in obedience to certain things that we do. It is sharing the Christian life that you're walking in, and not as much talking about soccer or other things that we toss around. But it's sharing your Christian life. How did you get this far? How do you believe that? Scripture is opened up to us, but the understanding of Scripture comes at certain points in your walk of faith. What I don't understand, I know I will understand later. I don't understand how there's God the Father and the Holy Spirit. But I don't have to understand that. I just know that it is. So, discipleship is important. And you've seen the most recent example with Pastor Jose. The benefit that Angie and I had leaving here for nine years and then coming back to this church. I've seen you all when you were younger. Those who were going there. And I've prayed with you. And I've watched you grow in your faith. And that is a blessing. That's like a miracle that we get to see. So, that's what we have to do. We just have to keep this going. Now, the next topic. Let me see. What is our example to the world? And I don't have time to go into all of these, but let's take them a couple times. So, the Beatitudes. Matthew 5.2-11 Has God laid out a plan for you? How are you going to be that example to others and live in faith if you don't have a plan? Has God called you to do something and you're not sure about it? Okay, you test it on those words. You test it according to the Beatitudes. Matthew 2-5, 2-11 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil things against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. When I read these words, I was humbled, because that's not me. I looked at them going, wait a minute. Blessed are the poor in spirit? I'm not poor in spirit. But everybody who is going to the kingdom of heaven is poor in spirit. My understanding was twisted because I didn't understand these. But over the last three months, God has been opening these verses to me so that I can understand them. So I'll ask you, are you poor in spirit? Are you mournful? Are you meek? That's for sure one that I didn't... I don't qualify for that. So, let's move on, but here are the first two. The first two Beatitudes. This is what I've learned. The Beatitudes are basically in an order. They go from here to there. They're an inward-facing view of us and how God is working to transform us to be an image of the Beatitudes. So when you serve, you are the image of a Beatitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit. The Bible says those without spiritual arrogance. Those who regard themselves as insignificant. Those are the poor in spirit. As Isaiah testifies to the Lord, and I said, Woe is me for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah 6.5 We'll go to the next one. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed, forgiven, refreshed by God's grace. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Our sin is lifted and we are comforted. Romans 7, verses 24-25 Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord. So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but my flesh I serve as the law of sin. Paul, writing to the Romans, he's mourning the sin that was in his life. He wanted to be perfect. We all want to be perfect. But the sin is in our flesh and that's what we mourn. Our quest for joy, our quest for love, really reveals which God we want to serve. The true God, or do we want to serve the God of the world? And I know which I would choose. So let's go to finally, if the worship team can come up. I want to talk about fear. Real quick about fear. The world is telling you you're one thing and you need this. But God is telling you you are something else. You're right over here. I've been walking through a journey for the last year and a half about mental health. I've had anxiety for the first time in my life. And I've lived a long life. The last year and a half I have to deal with this. I had a panic attack when I'm driving. And it wasn't in here. It wasn't in this country. So then I started praying over this. And I don't disregard that there's medical people. I don't disregard there's psychologists, counselors, all that. What I'm saying is what I've been walking through and what God is in me. So I want to pray a blessing over you. Because we live in a society that is filled with satanic expectations. And if you're called that you're not good enough, if you think you're not a good Christian because you've seen images that are not right, if you find joy and excitement in those images, forgive yourself. Forget the memories that keep coming back and back and back and are reinforced. Do you have failures of relationships, failures of work? That's over here. Because in God's eyes you're not a failure. But we have to get it out of our heads because our brains are just stuck in that eternal loop. And that's wrong. So it's time to break the chains. So here's my prayer in benediction if we all pray. Father, I thank you for this day. I ask that you bless these people, bless this church, watch over them. Satan does not belong in this church, in these houses, in the apartments that we live in. They're not in the cars and they're not in your temple, Lord. They're not in the temple of our bodies. So I pray this. Lord, I pray to forget. Lord, I pray to forget the standards that I have for myself and others that I've placed upon them. The not good enough times I've heard. Those memories that chain me to the world. Lord, I pray to forget the images that I have seen and that are wrong. Lord, I pray to forget the memories of my past and the present ones that are recurring, reminding me of failures in my past life. Father, transform us. Lord, I pray to forget the sounds that trigger any anxiety, any thoughts, any images. Lord, disconnect them. Lord, I pray to forget the failures in my work, my relationships, and in myself that haunt me. Lord, I pray to forget any shame, any guilt that I carry, or the guilt that I've given others. Lord, release me from these chains. Thank You, Father. I rejoice in Your freedom, Your forgiveness. I thank You for the Word and I thank You for this church and the pastors that minister here. May you have a blessed afternoon. ...of Iglesia CCI in Colonial Trevichi, just off Boulevard Sollapa, near Puna. If you would like prayer or more information about our church, contact us at fellowship.cci at gmail.com that's fellowship.cci at gmail.com or follow us on social media. We hope to see you or hear from you soon. Blessings. ...