You Must Live Your Calling Here On Earth God Created You For A Purpose

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for being with us today. We’ve got a great sermon in store. Guess what, you have a calling on your life. Yes, you do. So, it is time for you to get out there and start living your calling.

Now, if you’re already living your calling, then this is great. Keep watching. This is excellent encouragement for you, and it is also a great opportunity for you to share this with someone else who may not be living their calling. Encourage them; build them up. You have a calling on your life.

Now, how many people out there in the world failed to be who God wanted them to be? Ephesians 4:1, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Pray this. Pray this over you. Pray, say, “Lord Jesus, please help me live a life worthy of the calling that You have given me.” I hope you guys pray that over me all the time. I hope you’re out there praying, “Hey Lord, help Spencer live a life worthy of the calling you gave him.” That is just my– I hope that I can be worthy of the calling.

It’s like — it’s kind of a funny joke — I used to tell the delinquents that I worked with. They would say, “Man, you really got,” — whatever, you know — “you’re smart; you got it figured out,” or, “You’re so wise.” “Yeah, someday you can maybe have hope to be like me.” They didn’t quite get that, but, I mean it is kind of cruel, but it was in fun, and so then they liked it. It was funny.

But it wasn’t like most people say, “Yes, someday maybe you can be like me.” No no, it wasn’t even that. “Cuz I’m so good, someday maybe you can have the hope to be like me, but you’ll never be able to be like–” You know, kind of a little far off, but that’s kind of what we’re hoping right here. That is what this is saying.

We’re praying that we can hope to live a life worthy of the calling that Jesus gave us. Because we know we’re never going to be worthy enough to live a life worthy of the calling. So, we’re praying and hoping that we can do that. It puts it in place for us. We aren’t anything; we are dust, a fleeting vapor, a wisp in the wind, here today and gone tomorrow, chaff burnt up, — bloom and fade in an instant.

We really aren’t that special. We are special in God’s eyes, and that’s what we need to remember. If our identity is in Christ, we’re okay. We have to live a life worthy of that calling. God has a plan for you, and you have to decide whether or not you’re going to follow it. You have a purpose.

We had a sermon on that. Watch it. You have a purpose. Yes, you do. In fact, you have many. God has a plan for you. It’s a great plan, one better than anything you can ever imagine. I once saw this picture, a pretty cool picture, alright, and it said something like, “My plan,” and it showed, like, this blueprint.

Okay, and let’s just say it was like — or, you know, like, my house — and it was just a basic, basic floor plan. My house now, my plan, my dream house. Alright? And it had this multi-whatever-million-dollar mansion, these different things, this stuff, different floors, bathrooms — amazing.

And then it said, “God’s plan,” and it was incredible, like, incredible. Like, maybe five mansions, or something, on your own island. You know, just incredible.

We have these plans for our life that are so much grander than what we have now, but God has this plan for our life that’s even greater than what we could imagine, what we could think of. Only God knows what it is. How do we know what it is? We need to seek God, and He will reveal His plan for us. And it will be beyond our wildest dreams.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.’” That’s Jeremiah 29:11. It’s a very, very popular verse. You probably have it memorized. But I want to go through Verse 13. So, let’s go there, because I don’t have it all memorized. I mean, c’mon, you know.

29. So, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Wow. “I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “when you seek me.” So, seek Him. That’s how you know.

“For I know the plans I have for you.” God’s saying, “For I know the plans I have for you.” He’s not saying, “For you know the plans I have for you.” No, He knows the plans He has for us. We don’t know them, but the plans are to prosper us, not to harm us. To give us hope and a future. Prosperity, hope, and a future. Boy, that sounds pretty good. I will have prosperity.

Right now, I mean, I don’t know, I’m not very prosperous. I’m not living in wealth. I’m making ends meet, but boy, it’d sure be nice not to have to worry every month, look at the checkbook, and figure out how we’re gonna pay the bills.

Plans to prosper us, not to harm us. Well, when something happens like a car breaks or, like Dave Ramsey says, “when Murphy’s living in your spare bedroom” — Harm. Okay, get rid of that. Plans to give us hope and a future. These sound like great plans to me, but it gets better.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” It doesn’t say, “You will seek me and find me when you read your Bible once a month; when you seek me with half your heart because the rest of your heart is worried about money.” It says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

It does not say, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with half your heart because your other half is trying to serve your spouse, making sure they’re good, making sure they have coffee in the morning, making sure they’re fed. Or your kids: taking care of them, making sure they’re good. — When you seek me with your spare time.” No, you must make an effort.

I’m not saying don’t care for your spouse and don’t care for your kids. I’m saying you need to put God before them. So if you have a routine where you wake up and you get your kids ready for school or you make them breakfast or you make coffee for your spouse, that’s great, and then, if you have time, you spend some time with God. No, change your routine. You’re backwards.

You need to get up earlier. I’m not kidding. You need to get up earlier. Set your alarm earlier, a half hour. “Oh, but I am tired.” Guess what, God will give you the energy. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to get out of bed.” God’ll get you out of bed. Do it. You’ll set your alarm for a half hour earlier, and guess what, God’s going to wake you up an hour earlier. In Jesus’ name, that’ll happen.

Then, you will be making God your first priority. You will get up; He will have your first fruits. Remember the proverb? First fruits: it’s in Proverbs 4, or something, Proverbs 5. Give to God from the first of your fruits. The first of your labor. Give to Him. Then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. Pretty cool.

Your first fruits, what is that? When you wake up in the morning, if the first thing you are doing is starting to get your kids ready for school, or prepare, or read a book, or study a new language, or make the coffee, that’s not the first to God. Give God the first. Start your day with Him. Then get your kids ready, your wife or your husband, or your — whatever you’re doing. Learn your language; learn your textbooks; do your thing.

But God is first. Seek Him with all your heart. You will find Him. That’s all your heart; that’s getting up right away, giving time to God, that’s all your heart. Start your day right, continue your day with worship and praise and prayer, seeking God.

God plans in detail. He has such amazing plans for you. We had a whole sermon on that. God Plans in Detail. Check it out.

There are going to be many many opportunities in your life, many different paths you can take. However, God has one selected especially for you. Now, you can detour off that path, and He’s gonna try to get you back on it.

And, eventually, you’re going to end up doing what God wants you to do. It’ll just be whether you go along with it and do it the easy way, or whether you have to go through a lot of trial and tribulation to get there.

Let’s go to 1 Peter– No, 2 Peter, Chapter 1, Verses 10 and 11. “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Talk about a promise. Wow. “Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. If you do these things, you will never fall.” I am so eager to do my calling each and every day. I will never fall. If you get out there and do what God wants you to do, He will not let you fail. That’s amazing. It’s not going to be easy, and it definitely, definitely will be hard to find what it is. But it’s there.

“Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Matthew 17:3. Remember, how many people follow that wide path of the masses? Your path is this narrow gate.

There’s a movie called Big Fish. Crazy movie — it’s a good movie — but there is a main road and then there is this path, like, through the woods. And the guy is like, “I’m gonna take this one. I’ll meet you on the other side. You know, here, take my pack so you know I’m not going to ditch you.” He goes through this horrible path, trials, and then ends upon this really cool, amazing little paradise of a town. Ends up continuing on and continuing on with his life.

But enter through the narrow path. It’s gonna be tough. This broad and wide and easy road leads to destruction and there are going to be, along this road, many, many detours off, many narrow paths to try to get you on the narrow path.

And when you get on this path, it’s not like you’re gonna be walking it straight. You’re gonna be on it; there’s gonna be a detour; then, it’s gonna be like this.

It’s gonna be like that game with the marbles, where you have one marble that goes straight down and one that goes across, and you have two teams. And one person lets their marble– and it goes back and forth. And you drop your marble, and if you hit it and knock it off into a tray, you get some points. That’s your path.

Your path is like this: down the narrow path, and all along your path, you’re gonna get bumped off. There are gonna be trials and tribulations; it’s gonna happen. You’re gonna fall. You’re gonna stumble. You’re gonna mess up.

But God will never let you fail. Your mission will continue to go. God will not let you fall. Yes, you might stumble, but as Proverbs says, “Though a righteous man stumbles seven times, he will rise again.”

You will continue going. You must choose to allow God to reveal His plan to you. Choose. Say, “God, I want your will for my life.” How do you know that? How do you know what His will is and what His plans are?

Read your Bible. Learn the Bible. Pray to God; talk to Him; pray the scripture. The scripture is alive and active. It’s Jesus’s Word, it is God’s Word. Pray it. Take it and put your name in there. Pray it over your life. The plan will be revealed.

Proverbs 16:9, “In his heart, a person plans their course, but the LORD determines their steps.” I have a plan for my life, at least I think I do, and in my heart I make a plan. But God is the one who determines it. I might make a plan to do something, like for example, maybe I’ll make a plan to preach a sermon on something. And God will say, “No, preach it on this.”

In the moment. Maybe something changes; maybe I say, “You know what, I want to do XYZ. I want to go — whatever — I just want to go to Caribou and get a coffee.” And God says, “No. On the way to Caribou, you’re gonna get stuck in the snow. And someone’s going to stop and help you, and you’re gonna lead them to Christ.” Wow.

Or you’re gonna get a flat tire. Or maybe you’ll help someone with a flat tire, and you’re gonna change their life. So many things could happen. We have a plan that we think. Be open to the possibility that God is always adding to that plan and revealing His plan to you.

You must choose to allow God to reveal His plan to you. He’s not going to force you. You have free will. If you walk with God, it’ll be much easier for you to understand what He wants you to do.

Proverbs 16:3, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Why will they succeed? Because your plans and God’s plans will be one and the same. And when they’re one and the same, your plans will succeed. Because what you’re doing is exactly what God wants you to do.

Don’t miss your calling. How many people go through life and miss their calling?

There is a book; it’s by Og Mandino — He has a lot of books, they’re all great. I recommend them all. — And in one of the books, there’s a character named Simon Potter, and this Simon Potter talks about our president Franklin Pierce, and how he was a man who vastly missed his calling.

And you say, “Wait a minute, he was president.” He could have been so much more, but because of the circumstances in his life and the people around him, he didn’t. His life was a tragedy. He had a few kids and a wife, and while he was campaigning and everything, tragedy struck and one of his children died.

A week or two later when they were traveling to one of his campaign things or the inauguration or something, the train that they were on got in an accident, and his teenage son died. Then I think later on, his other kid died, and his wife ended up blaming him for all this death and destruction. And he served a presidency that was mediocre because he had all those burns on him.

She wouldn’t even move with him to the White House. I mean, it was just terrible. He had no support. And, eventually, they stayed together but resented each other, and he didn’t do such a good job in his presidency. And his own party wouldn’t re-endorse him for a second term. I mean, he ended up getting booted out. And then what? His life wasted away, and it was done.

Now, there’s a lesson. Many, many lessons there. You can learn more about him. But the point is, don’t miss your calling. What was God trying to show this man? We don’t know. Maybe he wasn’t a Christian; we don’t know. I mean, we could learn more about him, but I don’t know that much. I haven’t learned. But, an example — I mean, it’s just incredible.

Don’t miss your calling. Draw near to God so that He will be near to you. Let’s read about that a little bit more. James 4:8. I like James. James 4:8. “Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” If you go near to God, He will go near to you. Just like Jeremiah, “Seek him with all your heart. You will find him.”

Let’s go to 2 Chronicles 15:2. 2 Chronicles 15:2, “He went out to meet Asa and said to him, listen to me Asa and Judah and Benjamin, the LORD Yahweh is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, He will be found by you.” So, if you seek Him, you will find Him. “But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.”

If you forsake God, He will forsake you. It is just like Jesus says in Matthew, “If you deny me before your fellow man, I will deny you before my Father in heaven.” If you forsake God, He is going to forsake you. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

It’s like a magnetic relationship. If you’re drawing near to each other, boom. But if you turn and go the other way, they resist. They will push each other away. Do not make that happen to you.

1 Peter 2:21. Let’s go over to 1 Peter. 1 Peter 2:21. “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” Live your calling. What is it? Follow in the steps of Jesus. That is your calling.

Now, you have many callings. If you have a family, you have a calling to raise your children to be godly children. If you have a spouse, — if you are a man you have a wife, if you are a female, a woman, you have a husband. That’s it. Man and woman. — You have a calling to serve and to live for your spouse. If you have a family, you have a calling to provide an inheritance for your children and your children’s children.

Ultimately though, you have a calling to follow in the steps of Jesus. You have a calling to share Jesus with other people. To go out and preach the good news to all creation. The great commission: make disciples of all nations.

Let’s also go to Ephesians again. Ephesians Chapter 4, Verses 1 through 6. Pray this over yourself. “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Okay, we had that. Now, let’s continue. “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There is only one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

You were called to be a follower of Jesus Christ, to follow in His footsteps, to do what He did. What did He do? He went out, cared for the needy, helped the poor, and told every single person He could about the Kingdom of heaven, about Himself. He gave them an opportunity to choose to be saved, to believe in Him. Do the same. Get out there and live your calling.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, I pray that each and every person would take this to heart. That they would internalize these verses. That they would read them and understand them. That they would write them down and post them around their house. That they would have sticky notes stuckered everywhere, posted with verses and scriptures. That they would read them each and every day.

That they would be reminded that they have a calling, that they need to live this calling, Lord, in Jesus’ name. That they need to share you with as many people as possible. Not overbearingly, but in love as Jesus did. Help them to read the Bible and to know more about you. Help them to pray to you more. To make the effort to seek you with all their hearts.

And Lord, I ask that you would reveal your face to them, that you would show them You. That you would draw near to them as they draw near to you. That they would find you as they seek you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

What are you waiting for? Get out there, live your calling. Seek the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your might. A great way to do that is by reading the Bible, praying to God, talking about Him every chance you get, and continuing to watch sermons, to listen to sermons, to learn more about the scriptures in the Bible. Go out and do everything you can to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. God bless.