Embracing Everyday Life as God's Calling

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John, you just asked the very simple question: is it possible that some of us are not called to serve in a church setting but just in normal everyday life? And the answer to that question, I'll give it several dimensions of an answer, but let me give the first answer: yes, absolutely. [00:19:23]

We need to understand that God does a work in our life bringing us into his kingdom, and then we serve Him in our daily life in whatever God puts before us in the work that he gives us to do. We want to work in a way that glorifies him in the people that we rub shoulders with and connect with every day of our life. [00:24:58]

Martin Luther said, "God doesn't need your good works, but your neighbor does." And so we want to do good works for the sake of the people around us, those who know the Lord and those who don't know the Lord. But just living a way, if you want to say, a normal life before God is a glorious calling. [00:29:49]

Paul wrote this to the Thessalonians: that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing. Do you see what Paul says there? [00:33:20]

Sometimes our heads get too big with the idea that God has called us to some mighty ministry, that God has called us to be world changers and earth shakers. And listen, I don't deny that there's a few people that God has called to have such an impact, but we gotta admit it's very few. [00:42:09]

Most of us, God wants us to lead a quiet life, mind our own business, and work with our own hands and glorify Him in the daily things of our life. This is what God gives us to do. Now, I do believe that we should have a conscious way in our life that we further the work of God's kingdom. [00:46:18]

If God wants to call you to something more remarkable, so to speak, he knows where to find you. I mean, that's a pattern throughout the scriptures, isn't it? Think about it: God called Moses when he was tending sheep, God called Gideon when he was threshing wheat, God called Saul when he was looking for donkeys. [00:57:16]

You just be about the business of pursuing the everyday normal calling in life that God has given you: to be a good provider for your family, to be a loving husband, to be a good dad to your kids, to be a good person in your community, be an honest businessman, a hard worker, a good employee, or whatever. [01:03:20]

Sometimes we who are in full-time ministry, and you know I don't like that phrase so much because this isn't their sense in which God has called every believer to be in full-time ministry, but we use that phrase in the Christian world, don't we? Sometimes we who were in full-time Christian ministry... [01:08:54]

Wherever God has placed you, there's a kingdom calling within it, and we can serve God in the everyday, just as it said in first Thessalonians, leading a quiet life, giving glory to God just what we do in the everyday. [01:15:17]

Do you remember what Jesus said? He said, "Whoever gives to somebody a cup of cold water in my name, that work will not be forgotten." And that's just the key, isn't it? Whatever God is giving you to do it in his name, do it with a kingdom purpose, and in that way, normal everyday life becomes a beautiful calling from God. [00:51:47]

We shouldn't think that the only place God's kingdom is advanced is within the walls of a church. You go out and you serve the poor in your community, at the rescue mission or at the soup kitchen or just feeding the disadvantaged, that's Kingdom work if you do it consciously in Jesus' name. [00:48:58]

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