Don’t Kick Against Your Call
Message Moments & Highlights
Receiving a Personal Revelation
Experiencing Divine Impartation
Undergoing Transformation
Impacting Generations
Paradoxes Of Purpose
God places a unique divine calling on each person's life, extending far beyond traditional ministry roles into every sphere of influence - workplace, family, and community. This journey of pursuing God's purpose follows a clear pattern, as demonstrated in the Apostle Paul's life. It begins with a personal revelation of Jesus Christ, similar to Paul's Damascus road experience, followed by divine empowerment through the Holy Spirit. This leads to a season of character development and preparation, which may span years, as it did for Paul. The ultimate goal is to impact generations by reaching people within one's sphere of influence. Many people resist their calling due to impatience, fear of inadequacy, attachment to comfort, or comparison with others. However, the greatest fulfillment comes through surrendering to God's purpose and allowing Him to work through every aspect of life. This process requires active pursuit of spiritual growth, willingness to serve others, and courage to share faith in daily interactions.
Key Insights From The Message
Related Bible Verses
Acts 26:12-18: Acts 26:12 "One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will’'. ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell people that you have seen me, and to tell them what I will show you in the future. And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’"
Acts 9:17: "So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 13:2: "One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.”
Philippians 3:12-14: "I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."ilippians 3:17: Paul encourages others to pattern their lives after his example
Philippians 3:17 "Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example."
-
Pursuing God's Call: Lessons from the Apostle Paul's Journey
Every person has a divine calling on their life, but many struggle to recognize and pursue it. The story of the Apostle Paul provides powerful insights into how God works to fulfill His purpose in our lives.
What Does It Mean to Have a Divine Calling?
A divine calling goes beyond just serving in church ministry. It encompasses God's unique purpose for each person to be His ambassador wherever they are - in their workplace, school, family, or community. This calling is about showing God's love and bringing His light to others.
What Are the Key Steps in Pursuing God's Call?
1. Receiving a Personal Revelation
The journey begins with a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Like Paul's dramatic experience on the Damascus road, we need our own revelation of who Jesus is. This goes beyond religious routine to develop a genuine relationship with God.
2. Experiencing Divine Impartation
After revelation comes impartation - receiving God's power through the Holy Spirit. This empowerment enables us to fulfill our calling, just as Paul received the Holy Spirit through Ananias's prayer.
3. Undergoing Transformation
God often takes us through a season of preparation and character development. For Paul, this meant 8-14 years between his conversion and first missionary journey. During this time, God shapes our character and prepares us for greater impact.
4. Impacting Generations
The ultimate purpose is to impact others for God's kingdom. Like Paul's mission to the Gentiles, we're called to reach people in our sphere of influence and pass faith to future generations.
Why Do People Resist Their Calling?
Many resist God's call due to:
Impatience with the preparation process
Fear of inadequacy
Attachment to personal comfort
Comparison with others
Focus on immediate circumstances rather than God's bigger picture
Life Application
Consider these questions:
Have you experienced a personal revelation of Jesus Christ?
Are you actively pursuing spiritual growth and transformation?
What generations is God calling you to impact?
Are there areas where you're resisting God's call?
This week's challenge: Identify one area where you need to realign with God's calling. Take a specific step toward pursuing that calling - whether it's joining a growth group, serving others, or sharing your faith with someone in your workplace or family.
Remember: The greatest joy comes not from pursuing our own plans, but from fully surrendering to God's purpose for our lives.
-
A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.
Sermon Transcript
Alrighty, who's ready for the word now? All right, if you got your Bibles, Acts 26, Acts chapter 26. And we are going to look at my second favorite person in the Bible after Jesus, and that is the Apostle Paul and well after the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, if you want to be technically correct. Three persons, one God. And the apostle Paul is a wonderful champion and I've always. He's got a personality that I feel I relate to where he's just. Once he gets a hold of something, he goes for it with everything he's got. And you watch what we are privileged in scripture that we get to see and from multiple perspectives, the Apostle Paul's life.
We get to see him before he gets saved. We get to see him afterwards. We get to hear how other people felt about him and how he was treated by them. And then we get to hear from the Apostle Paul himself, both in the book of Acts and in the letters he wrote about the journey he went on and the change that happened. And I want us to look at that today.
Because the Apostle Paul had a call of God in his life, and he pursued that with everything he could and right to the end of his life. This is the truth. I want to talk to you about the call of God on your life today. And I want to look at the Apostle Paul's life and say, what were the things and the processes and the steps he went through to pursue that call on his life? And how should we put those steps in place in our own life?
Where are you at with that? And is the call of God on your life the most important thing to you? Have you let other things come in. So we're gonna. That's the theme.
We're gonna look In Acts, chapter 26. What is it? Verse 12, I believe. Acts 20. If my thing will work.
26, verse 12. Here we go. One day. So this is the Apostle Paul. He's saved.
He's now. These are in his own words. He's been arrested, and he's now appearing before council. And he's now giving, in his own words, his transformation that happened when he gave it, when he discovered Christ. So verse 12.
One day I was on such a mission to Damascus. He was going to round up Christians and put him in prison. Says, I was on such a mission to Damascus. Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. About noon.
Your majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me. And a voice saying to me in Aramaic, saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will. Who are you, Lord? I asked.
And the Lord replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get to your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me and tell them what I will show you in the future. And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles.
Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. And then they will receive forgiveness for their sins. And be given a place among God's people who are set apart by faith in me. And so King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven. I love that he got an encounter with God.
God put a call in his life and said, saul, Saul, what are you doing? I've got a different purpose for you. I've got a different plan for your life. And Paul says it, and he tells him what that plan is. And then Paul says to King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from God, and I want to ask you today, are you obeying the vision from God that he has given you?
There's a call on your life. Do you know that? There's many important things in our lives, but the call of God, following his plan, having relationship with him, and following what that means is the most important thing. Many important things. We just had a wonderful day for some of us at least.
Least Valentine's Day. We just had Valentine's Day. And honey, you're my Valentine. We've been married 23 years and it's a beautiful, wonderful woman. She led us in worship today, has a heart.
After God and Valentine's Day, we don't treat it as that important. We treated our anniversary as very important. But our marriage and our relationship is important. That's a very important thing to me, to my wife, in our family. But I thank God that it's not the most important thing in our lives.
It's not the most important thing for either myself or my wife. And I can say that because my wife made that very clear to me, very clear when I asked her out for the first time as a young 19, maybe just turned 20 year old young man smitten by this beautiful young woman, woman that I was going to Bible college with. And I asked her out and after a little bit of convincing, she said yes. And then I went over her house for dinner one night and I brought her some flowers. And I got there with my flowers that I discovered were not the right kind of flowers that she likes.
But sorry, honey, but I brought these flowers over and she took the flowers, she opened the door, took the flowers from my and said, oh, thank you. And then looked at me, me with what can only be described as eyes of pity. I saw the look, you poor thing, you've come here expecting a wonderful dinner and flowers, but I've got news for you, sunshine. And so she took the flowers from me, looked at me with eyes of pity and said, we need to go for a walk. And I went, yeah, you know, uh, oh, here we go.
Here we go. And so she took me on a walk. And on that walk she explained to me that she'd been praying about our relationship and the, and what God wanted her to do and that the Lord had reminded her that the time wasn't right for her to go out with someone and that she had to wait for a couple of months while she prayed and sought God about whether I was the right person for her to be in a relationship with. And so she was like, I'm so sorry that I'm saying this to you because you're a great guy, but narrow always had the way of making, letting you down, but telling you you're good at the same time and still crushing your hopes and dreams in the moment. And so she told me in that moment, sorry, we're not going out, stop it all.
And I need two months to go pray. And so I remember going away from that time. Going, going, oh, no. And I'm seeking God, going, God, please speak to her, please speak to her. But here's the thing I learned on that day that my wife valued something more than me and that was the will of God for her life.
And that was honouring God in her life before a person, before a relationship. And actually it made me aware when she did that, I went, well, she's definitely the right person for me. If that's her heart, if she's willing to do that, that, then that's the person I want to be in a relationship with. And I want to tell you that's the kind of person that I want to become. That's the kind of person God's called us to be.
We can put all kinds of things, your career, your comfort, your job, a relationship, your children. But God has called us to put one thing above all others, and that is him, himself, God honoring him and the will of God for our lives. And the beautiful thing about Paul is that he did that the moment he met the Lord. He said, God, I will dedicate my life to serving you. And I want to tell you that each and every person in this place, you have a call of God on your life.
We get caught up with things, brothers and sisters, that we think it's the pastor's job. We create celebrities, we create people. Or you're called to ministry, or you're called. I want to tell you this, every single one of us is called to ministry. Ministry.
It's not a ministry in the church necessarily. It's a ministry in life. It's a ministry to God and the people. You're around and your family and your friends and in your workplace and in your chosen occupation to show love and grace. The church is not a building.
The church is not an organization. The church is not a service. The church is you and I going out into the world and ministering wherever we go. And I want to ask you, are you pursuing the call of God on your life? This is what I love.
It says, there's a sentence that Jesus spoke. He said, saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will. It's useless for you to fight against my will. The new King James Version puts it in the more literal says, it says, it is hard for you to kick against the goads.
It's hard for you to kick against the goads. And sometimes you might have read that and gone, what on earth is this talking about? Well, the goads were these pointed things that they used to use to prod oxen when they were doing their work. They would sort of use these sticks and prod them to keep them in line, to keep them on the right path, so that they kept on going in the direction they were supposed to be going. And Jesus uses this example to say, hey, Paul, Saul, I've been prodding you.
I've been sort of directing you, and you've been trying to go off the path. You've been off here, thinking it's here and here. But it's hard for you to go against the will of God for your life. Because I'm going to keep prodding and I'm going to keep directing. And I want to tell you that God will keep on prodding you and he'll keep on directing you and he'll keep on convicting you to follow the will of God.
Have you felt that in your life? Life, where you go, you go offline and you feel like, oh, it's not right. I should be coming back. I should be coming back. It happens to all of us.
This is my title today. Don't kick against your call. Don't kick against your call because God has a call of God on your life. The devil wants to rip you off. The world wants to take your life and use it for other things.
But God has a call for you. Will you pursue it? We're going to look at some things that the Apostle Paul did that God wants to do in our lives through this process of pursuing the call of God. Here's the first one. The first thing that you need if you're going to pursue the call of God on Your life is.
You need a revelation. You need a revelation. Paul had probably the greatest revelation of God that almost anyone's ever had in his history. He's walking along, going along the road to Damascus and a bright light shines and they fall to the ground. He gets blinded and he hears the voice of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ speaks to him audibly and personally and says, you are persecuting me. When you're persecuting Christians, you're persecuting me. What happened to Paul? He went from hating Christians and trying to shut them down and imprison them. He was there.
He says he was there when they killed the first Christian martyrs, Stephen. He was there and approving of it. And he said, this is what should happen. And he went from that to seeing, to having an encounter with Jesus that was so magnificent that he spent the rest of his life fighting for Jesus. And he went and he was shipwrecked.
They ended up killing him. They imprisoned him and they ended up killing him. What turned someone from someone who hates Christians and is trying to shut them down to being the most zealous, zealous, on fire man of God that we've seen, who's gone and changed the world? It was a revelation from God. And I want to tell you, you will not pursue the call of God, you will not pursue relationship with God without a personal revelation of Jesus Christ.
And I want to ask you today, have you had a personal revelation of Jesus Christ and are you continuing, continuing to have a revelation of Jesus Christ? We live in a world and this is. It saddens me too many Christians were caught up in what I would call religion, religion of going through a process. Why? Because this is the way we do it and this is what I have to do.
And you know, if I don't do this, I'll get in trouble with God or get in trouble with my parents or get in trouble, trouble with my group of people. And religion will not change your life. Religion will end up controlling you. Religion will end up telling you, you do this or, or, or the only thing that will grab your heart and, and set you free is revelation. Revelation that turns into a relationship with God.
Have you had a revelation? I thank God in my life. You know, I've been in both. There's been times when I've been caught up in relationships, religion and when I'm just trying to do the right thing and oh, I've got to do this and that and it just gets all finicky and yeah, yeah, it's like just, ah, I Don't like that. I don't like.
Well, I'm an Aussie. I don't like to be controlled. All right, don't control me. You try and conform me, I'll just go, ah, I don't like that. I grew up in a Lutheran college, and they had an order of service.
And I can see some value in that right when it comes from the heart. But I used to go, I don't want, want that. You're making me say those words. I don't know, what if I don't mean that? And then I'd have students that would sit around me who never went to church, weren't in a relationship with God, would pay out the whole thing.
But they'd read the words. And I go, no, no, they need a revelation of God. And I thank God that I was from an early age, I got introduced by others, other great Christians who'd had that revelation, and they encouraged me to have my own revelation of God. And I remember in church services and in. And in my own room in prayer times, just being enveloped.
Have you been enveloped where the love of God got your heart? And you knew you'd met him? Have you had that experience? It's an encounter with God. And you know what?
You can question a whole bunch of things. Imogen was saying she had a lot of questions about God and about Christianity. So do I still got him? All right. And we grow and we learn and we develop.
Do you know what if we don't have a revelation that I've met Jesus Christ, I've seen him, I've sensed his presence and his love. I believe in him. Then all those questions can lead you astray. Things can go wrong. The thing that keeps me in relationship with God is my revelation that he is real.
Have you had a revelation? Paul had a revelation, and it grabbed a hold of him and kept. That's what you need. You're going to pursue the call of God. Go back to your revelation from God, and if you've missed that, say, God, give me a fresh revelation of your grace and your love.
Last night, I was preparing to preach on Saturday night service, and I went into my office and I just said, lord, I need your presence. I need you. I just felt an infilling of the presence of God in my heart. Fresh revelation that he's with me, he's empowering me. He's real.
And I said, thank you, Lord. You know, I need, need you. That's what we need. That was the first thing. The second thing that happened.
We have to go to Acts chapter nine. And it's a continuation because we see this story repeated multiple times. In Acts 26, Paul is talking about it in Acts 9. It's been written about from the third person perspective. But in Acts 9:17, what happens to Paul?
He has an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, and he gets blinded and he goes to the town and he waits there, and God tells him, I'm going to send someone who's going to help you. And in Acts 9:17, God speaks to this person and he goes there. His name was Ananias. And it says, so Ananias went and found Saul. This is just after he'd encountered God.
And it says this. He laid his hands on him and said, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Spirit. Instantly, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he regained his sight. And then he got up and was baptized.
Afterward, he ate some food and regained his strength. That's why we love food here, because it's always all through the Bible. Food, food, you got to have a revelation. But the second thing that has to happen, you have to have an impartation. There has to be an impartation into your life.
You have a revelation of God and then God sends someone, someone to Saul who became known as Paul, said, I'm sending someone to impart something. I'm going to fill you with my Holy Spirit. And what happened to Paul? He got filled with the Holy Spirit and then he went and got water baptized. And I want to tell you, something changed in Paul when that happened.
He had a revelation, but he didn't understand it. He didn't know who the Holy Spirit was. He didn't know all these things. But when Ananias came, there was an impartation. Have you had an impartation where the Holy Spirit's come and filled your.
Your life we're talking about? Yes. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Yes. Getting water baptized.
Imogen and Mark, they got water baptized a few months ago. And there's an impartation that happens. Oh, I've understood. A revelation. God is real.
But now there's an empowering. Something gets imparted to you. Have you experienced that? I remember when I was young. Some of you have heard this.
I made a decision as a kid to get water baptized. And they challenged us in church. We're having that in March. We're having water baptisms again in mid March. And let Me encourage you to do it if you've never been water baptized.
As a 10, 11 year old, I said, I'm gonna get water baptized. And then the sun was happening on the Sunday night. And so Sunday morning. Being a good church boy, I was in church in Sunday school, in children's church, we called it. And I was in class and listening to the teacher.
They were doing the lesson. And literally halfway through the lesson, the door opens and the two leaders of the whole church, it was a big church, the leaders of the kids ministry walked in and stopped the lesson. And we're like, oh, what's this? What's happening here? This is important.
And then they said, right, Adrian Deneen. And then they read another name that I can't remember. There was two of us, and they said, said, come with us. We don't do that here in this church, by the way. We do not freak kids out.
This is what happened to me. They freaked me out. I was a good boy in church, doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and suddenly I get my name read out and said, you follow us. And I'm freaking out, going, oh, no, what have I done? What's happened?
Has my mum died? What's happened? Something's gone wrong. And they're calling me out and they took me into a little side room and there was two leaders there and two kids. And they looked at me and they said, adrian, you filled out a form.
You're getting water baptized tonight. Is that right? I said, yes. And they're like, on this form, you tick that you weren't baptized in the Holy Spirit. Is that right?
I'm like, yes. They're like, well, we're now going to baptize you in the Holy Spirit Spirit before you get water baptized. And I'm like, okay. And then they went and explained what baptism in the Holy Spirit was. And they went through the scriptures and told me what was going to happen about speaking in tongues.
And they said, is that okay, Adrian? Can we pray for you? And I was like, in that? I was like, yes, okay, let's do it. And they did.
They prayed for me to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And I did. I started speaking in other tongues. And I was like, I still, you know, sometimes I went through as I was. Was I just too.
Was I making it up because I was scared to make him upset or was it real? But we did. I started speaking in other tongues and we did. And they said to me, they remember. They said, we want you to pray, Adrian.
Pick something. Told both of us pick something that is the most important thing to you, that you'd like to see God answer. And we're gonna pray together in this new spiritual language for that to happen. And I remember saying, my dad's here today. I remember saying, at that stage, my dad had gone away from God and wasn't coming to church.
And I said, well, my prayer is. I said, I want my dad to come back to Jesus. And so we prayed that prayer. It took a few years, dad, but we got there, didn't we? And I prayed this prayer and I spoke in other tongues, and that was my encounter.
And then that night, and they were nice to me after that, and I was like, they love me. And it was all good in the end. I came to that Sunday night service and I was like, right, I've been prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I'm getting water baptized. And I remember going to the tank we had at that stage, and there was thousands of people there.
And my youth pastor baptized me and the music was happening. And I came up out of that water and I lifted my hands to the Lord, and I'm telling you, he put his hand and prayed for me. And I had an impartation of the Holy Spirit. And I can still remember it. I just.
I didn't care what was happening to everyone else. I felt the presence of God. I felt the power of God. I felt the love of God. I started just shouting out in my spiritual language in other tongues and started praying.
And God was speaking to my, saying, I've put a call on your life, son. You're going to follow me for the rest of your life. And God imparted something to me in that moment. I'd had a revelation of Jesus, but I needed an impartation of the Holy Spirit and of his power and of his presence. And I want to say each and every one of us needs that.
You need an impartation. Sometimes it comes through someone praying for you. Sometimes it just comes from you asking God to fill you and asking. And you sense that this. Have you sensed this empowerment?
Sometimes we don't even know how to describe it, Just a sense. God is present with you. He's giving you strength to go forth. That's what you need to fulfill the call of God. That's what we see.
Paul went through a revelation, then an impartation. And then the next bit takes a bit longer. The first two things happen within three days. The next one I'm calling a transformation. And this is where we mess it up, because we're not patient.
We're like, right, saved, Holy Spirit empowered. Let's go. And you know, the Apostle Paul did that. He got saved. He got filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized.
And then the Bible tells us he started going around preaching to everyone. And he was making a difference. People were listening. People were getting saved. Some people turned on him because they went, this guy was the guy trying to send us to jail.
Now he's preaching. Who does he think he is? And he was just on fire. And then it comes to a point in Acts chapter nine where basically they send the disciples and that basically people were threatening Paul's life, and they send him to Tarsus, where he was his hometown town. They say, paul, you have to escape where we are here in Jerusalem and around.
You have to go to Tarsus. And that happens in Acts chapter nine, which is just after his conversion. The next time we hear from Paul is Acts chapter 13. And in Acts chapter 13, the apostles gather. Barnabas and Saul and Paul together again, and they send them out on their journey.
Now you go, oh, yeah, Acts, chapter nine, Acts chapter 13. That's like four chapters. How long's that? It's like a couple of months, two, three months. When we read the Book of Acts, it sounds like it's just all happening one after the other, doesn't it?
We sort of read it and go, oh, yeah, that happened like, within six months. Do you know what scholars say that the time difference between Acts chapter nine, when Paul first got saved and when he got sent out as a missionary, they say it was eight to 14 years between when Paul first got saved and when he got sent out on his first missionary journey. Eight to 14 years later, Paul disappears for a few chapters. It was years and years of his life. Some of you feel like God's forgotten you.
Some of you feel like the plan God has for your life has stopped still. It hasn't stopped still. You're going through a transformation journey. Here's another word for you. A transformation.
You're going through a preparation. And here's where Christians, where we forget to look with God's perspective. We look at man's perspective, we get frustrated. We compare ourselves to others. We'll look at them.
I've done it. Look at that pastor. They're getting more opportunity than me. They're getting more fruit than me. Oh, I've been forgotten.
I'm a loser, right? You go, Adrian, you don't think that. You seem confident. No, no, I've thought that many, many times in my life. I'll tell you, when I was 17, God gave me a revelation, a call on my life, and showed me what I'd be doing.
You're going to be preaching to thousands of people, Adrian. You're going to be going forward with the Holy Spirit and with power. And I said to God, I said, awesome. Actually, it wasn't just 17, it was when I was 14. God showed me that.
And I put a thing. I said, if I'm not traveling around the world preaching by the time I'm 18, I've failed. That was, I mean, stupid Adrian, right? That was the expectation. You got four years to bring that to pass.
I go. And God's like, okay, mate, you got a bit of. You got a few things to learn there, sunshine. All right, son, I love you, but it's gonna take a bit longer than that. When I was 20, I went into ministry.
20 just turned 23, and I went into full time ministry. And I thought, right, here we go, the doors are gonna open. And I'm 45 now and God's had to take me on a journey. And I thought, I'm gonna lead. I've got something to say.
I want to tell you this. If I became the pastor of this church when I was 23, oh my goodness, I mean, I would have been a fireball. There would have been some good things and there would have been some terrible things. You did not want me as your senior pastor when I was 23 years of age. Thank the Lord.
I thank God now, thank you, Lord, that you saved me from that and you saved everyone else from that. I needed a transformation journey. Fireball, Adrian, who thinks is always right? Who's got the answer? Who knows?
A 23 year old, right, confident, thinks they got the answers to everything. Well, God's had to go, no, you don't, mate. You know, it's a bit. Who's learned that in their life? The older you get, the more you gain wisdom and you go through the hard times and then you have to make a choice whether you become someone who forgives and you become someone who becomes patient and you become someone who says, you know what?
I don't have the strength. Only God has the strength. And there's a humility if you let. There's a humility that forms in your life. Because I realize I can't do this.
God, there's so much I don't know. That's what happened to the apostle Paul. He had it all. He was a gun. Look what he did.
And he knew he was going to do it. And then God takes him out for 8 to 14 years and says, no one's going to hear you preach, Paul. Now we're going to see a transformation in your life. I'm going to teach you the scriptures. Come on, some of you.
God's teaching you the scriptures and he's teaching you wisdom and guidance because he's going to use it for the next generations. He's going to use it in your life. Life. Will you let God take you on a transformation journey? I'm still on it.
Who knows who's still on the journey of transformation? It's ongoing for the rest of our lives. We're all in it together, but God help us be humble. Can you be patient in that journey? Some of you young guys, you've got big dreams and that's awesome.
But God's going to take you on a journey of transformation, of preparation, and it's going to be the things that he's promised you early on will come to pass. But in God's timing, some of us here, we've got to keep holding on and say, God, continue to grab a hold of me and transform my life. That's why I love. You know, I look at Pastor Fua, who's become our lead pastor here at Frankston. Been in his church for over 10 years, him and Alex, year after year, week after week on his Nord stage.
Three Red Keys. Pride and joy. Alex isn't allowed to touch it. The kids aren't allowed to touch it. Not that kind, but he's brought.
But every week, you know, Fua used to come here. It still does. I don't know what time it is now, but about 7am before everyone else gets here. This is as a volunteer and just prepare, pray and prepare and make sure everything's set up ready for when everyone else gets gets here. And he didn't go, oh, God.
God put a call of God in his life. When I met Fu, I never said, one day he's going to be the lead pastor here at Frankston. Didn't think that. Well, he's a good guy. Wow.
He's got a great creative gift, a great musical gift. Let's see what God does. You know what I love about Fuwer? Said God, I'll go through the transformation journey. And he needed some transformation.
He's a bit like me because he's a driven person. I remember when I first got here, there was one Sunday. I think I've teased him about this before. There was one Sunday right when I first got here, almost over nine years ago. He walked out.
He walked out in rehearsal because the standard wasn't high enough. The guys hadn't rehearsed. And he's like, I'm not going to play with this. This isn't up to standard. See you later.
And someone came to me and said, fu is gone. What do you mean he's gone? He just walked out. He went on, drove home. I don't know if he came back late.
I can't remember. And then we had a chat afterwards, and I said, okay, Phil, yeah, I get your frustration. I'll get frustrated, too, but maybe that's not the best response. And he was like, no, I'm sorry. It's probably not the best response.
And God, he learned. He grew. You know what? Sometimes we're gonna make mistakes. Sometimes we're gonna overreact.
Humility, forgiveness, grace. And we grow. And I've watched Fuwa grow into a mighty man of God. Fu and Alex stepping in in faith together. I've watched other people in this church grow into mighty men and women of God and growing into mighty men and women of God.
Will you let God take you on the transformation journey? Can I encourage us? Friends, we are doing. We've talked about these growth nights. We're doing.
We're doing growth nights for a reason. We've got on top. If you've done all the growth nights, we've got alpha. If you start. Start off Alpha, then Alpha plus, then the culture course.
I'm running the culture course personally right here. And we talk about ways in which God wants to disciple you, about your true identity in Christ and your spiritual gifts. And we talk about this journey. God wants to take you. And then we've got the Bible course about learning, the overview of all the major themes of all the books of the Bible.
It's brilliant. And then after we've done those, we've got connect groups. And if you say, I've done those and I want to join a Bible study group or a group from my age, go to the get connected desk there, and Narelle's there. Others are there. Alex.
And we would love to say, hey, why don't you join this group? Do you know why they exist? They're there to help us be discipled, to transform. I've noticed this about Christians, the Christians who take their transformation journey seriously. They get transformed, and God uses you, and you grow, and he develops your character.
Character and draws you closer to him. The ones who don't engage in those things, they stay exactly where they are and sometimes get worse. Can I Encourage you be someone who says, I take the transformation journey seriously. And you watch what God does. Watch what he does.
Will you let God continue to change you and transform you? Before you can change the world, God has to change you. Will you let him do it? The fourth thing that happens after eight to 14 years, in Acts chapter 13, Barnabas and Saul get commissioned. And it says here in Acts 13, verse 2, I don't think we have it on the screen, but I'll read it to you one day.
As these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I've called them. So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way. And so In Acts chapter 13, the apostle Paul and Barnabas went on their first missionary journey where they traveled around the known world and they planted churches and changed the world for Jesus Christ. The fourth thing that you will do if you follow the call of God is you will be called to see the generations changed. God will bring a transformation and then he will call you to the generations and each and every one of us.
Here's my challenge for us. Lift your vision. Lift your vision. Your life is called to more. I've believed that I use my own example, not to big note myself because I'm just little.
I was quiet when I was younger, little, quiet, insecure. Adrian, who got a revelation from God that my life was called for more than just myself. And I took it seriously. And my heart for you is that you would take that you would believe that truth and take it seriously. You are called to change the generations.
You are called to change. Do you believe, believe that you're called to change the generations? Where? In your school, in your workplace, with the staff around you. I don't know what opportunity you have, but God's going to speak to you.
He's going to grab a hold of you. The Apostle Paul, when he first got saved, God said, I'm going to take you to the Gentiles. He was a Jewish man. And God said, lift your eyes, Saul Paul, I'm gonna send you to the people that don't have never heard of me. All the people the Gentiles were all the people, the Jewish people.
In their world, there was Jewish people. And then everyone who wasn't Jewish were called the Gentiles. It's most of us. And the Apostle Paul got a word from God. I'm gonna send you to the generations of Gentile people, of non Jewish people.
To tell them the good news that Jesus Christ is for them, too. Do you know why we're here today? Because the Apostle Paul got a calling to go and speak to those who hadn't heard of him. That's why we're here today. And he took it seriously.
If you would take the call of God on your life seriously, who knows what you're going to do? Who knows who you're going to impact? So I love this Margaret.
Margaret's been recovering from some surgery and on fire, and she was on our team here. And then God's opened up a door in an indigenous organization, and she's going and she's cooking and doing a whole bunch of stuff for them. But she talks to me about it and she takes and she prays with these guys. Guys have come from pretty tough background. And she'll tell me the stories about how God's using her to love them and they trust her and it will open up their hearts.
And she shares the love of Jesus with them and says, God's got a plan for your life. You're here for a reason. I go, there's someone who's saying, I'm taking the call of God to the generations, to the generations, to my family, to this church, to those. Come on. What are you doing in your workplace?
Your job is not just a job. So maybe it is. Oh, it's boring. I don't like this. Or they should pay me more.
They probably should lift your eyes. God's got a greater purpose. Say, okay, God, who have you called me to reach here? You're his light to this world. That's what Jesus said to the Apostle Paul.
He said to him, he said this in verse 17. Yes. I'm sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes. This is your call, to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people who are set apart by faith in me.
What a calling. And here's the beautiful truth. That's our calling. The Apostle Paul, when he wrote his letters, one of the letters he wrote in Corinthians, he said, we are Christ's ambassadors. He took the calling himself seriously.
But then he threw it onto all of us, and he said, that's your calling in your workplace, in your school, with the students. Eric, you know that I take it seriously. Come on. Some of us are working in a factory. You got people by your side who are going through all Kinds of life stuff.
Do you know God's called you there to make a difference in their life, to speak into their situation with love and grace. I'm not saying don't get the Bible and start going, oh, thus saith the Lord.
Bit more subtlety.
That was me when I was a bit younger. I went to my school and I just went, jesus is coming back and you're all going to go to hell. Boom. They laughed in my face. I'll still preach the truth, but you know what?
God give me an opportunity. Hey, I'm going through this in my marriage or my kids are going through this. Hey, let me, let me. Hey, can I pray with you? Is that all right if I pray?
I'm a Christian. Can I pray for what you're going through? It's amazing how many people say yes to that. Hey, I'm sorry you're going through that show love. Hey, no one else cared.
They're all swearing and carrying on. But you asked how I'm going the next day, the next week, bringing light to the generations. We're talking. We prayed for our pregnant mums.
We're called to the generation. What a calling to be a parent, a grandparent, an auntie, an uncle. The next generation. That's why I love our church. We've got our young kids.
They came to me this morning as I walked into church. They were walking off to kids church and they. A couple of them were there and they said, oh, we just prayed at the prayer meeting. I said, you champions. And they didn't need my encouragement.
They already knew they were. Yes, we are. Thank you. And I went, come on. The next generations rising, rising up.
Look at our young adults and young people and youth rising up, getting sick because they're serving God together. Too close.
But I'm proud of them because they're doing it now, but they're called to do it in years to come. Who's God called you to change the generations? It's the call of God. Stop worrying about your. Your own little life, my little life, get caught up in its problems.
I'm not trying to belittle them, but I'm saying there's bigger things that God has for you and actually the problems you're dealing with, he will use, if you let him, to impact the generations. If you let God. Some of you go, well, I don't come from the background. You come from Adrian. I've gone through this.
You don't understand. No, I don't. You know the beautiful thing about that? God's got A place for you to go and impact people I can't impact. If you let.
Let him bring grace to your situation and transformation to your life.
He's called you to be a champion. He's called you to be a witness for his glory. He's called you to do mighty things for him. Will you believe it? That's my heart.
That's why I love you know Alicia here on the front row. I mentioned you yesterday, last night as well. So are you here now, Alicia, she's going on another waiwam trip. Youth with a mission. They send you overseas and you have to sleep with the bugs and just go and serve communities of people with love and humility and grace and take opportunities and worship and preach whatever the opportunities are.
She's already done one. I was like, I thought that would be enough. So give me luxury. Give me a nice hot shower and a nice bed to lie. She's like, no.
She goes, I've applied again. And last. Last week she came to me and she said, they've accepted me. I'm going again for three months. I'm gonna go serve God to the generations.
And I said to Alicia, I said, alicia, I said, you keep going. See, it's gonna take time, but you keep a hold of that fire in you to change lives. And I said, you watch what God does through your life. They're the kind of people I'm proud of doing, taking on this mantle. I mean, today I'm so proud of our guys right now.
I wish I could be. Next week, I'm going to be visiting them next week. Next week we've got Pastor Fua bringing the word. It's going to be awesome. But next week, this Sunday, right this second, we've just started a new church in Grantville, Connect Bass coast.
And Kim Parsons has been in our Casey congregation serving God for years and years. She's a young mum, young kids, all the pressures that brings. You know what she said? She said we went to her and said, maybe God's called you to help with this. She said, I'm scared, but I'll do it.
And she's gone out to Grantville today with a team of our connect people. They've planted a church today and Frank just messaged me before. They've got 56 people there today in Grantville and amazing.
There's no superheroes there. They're just people like you and I who said yes. Don't kick against your call. Don't kick against your call. What about you?
Who's God called you to Impact and reach. Last thing I'll say is this. There's a revelation that you need. There's an impartation. There's a transformation.
And he's called you to the generations, all for this one purpose, the exaltation of Jesus Christ. Everything we do, it's not to be heroes. It's not to say, look at my impact. It's not to be happy.
So lift up the name of Jesus Christ, that when we all appear before him one day, the Bible says we will throw our crowns of everything we've achieved for him in this world, and we will throw them at his feet and say, jesus, for your glory. It's an honor. It's a privilege. And I want to tell you, even as I speak it, it captures my heart again. Because I don't do what I do for my glory.
I don't do it for comfort or because I enjoy it. I do it because the Lord Jesus Christ deserves everything of me that I have to give him. It is the greatest honor of my life to serve the Lord Jesus. That's your motivation. That's the call, oh Lord, not to achieve a destiny, but to lift you up, Lord Jesus, and to say, lord, I live my life for you.
And this is what the Apostle Paul says. Let me finish with this. This is why I love him. Because all through his life he lived this way. And then in Philippians chapter three, some of you heard this passage before.
This is the same Apostle Paul, now that he's gone on the three missions trip and he's changed the world and he's planted the churches and he's been imprisoned.
3, verse 12 in Philippians. I don't mean to say that I've already achieved these things or that I've already reached perfection, but I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. He's going back to the time he first had a revelation of God. I'm still pressing on to serve him with everything I have. No, dear brothers and sisters, I've not achieved it.
But I focus on this one thing. Forgetting the past and. And looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. I'm serving him with all my heart.
And then he says this in verse 17. And this is what we need to pay attention to. Are you doing this? Dear brothers and sisters, it's you and I pattern your life after mine and learn from those who follow our example.
There's lots of examples to Follow in this world. There's a really crazy group that we've created in our society called Influencers.
They're not the people that I follow. They're not bad people, people, most, a lot of them. I'm just not following them. I want to pattern my life after the ones who sold their lives out to Jesus Christ. And I want to look at my life and say, God, where do I need to realign myself?
And I want to ask you that today. Where do you need to realign yourself? When you look at the apostle Paul, you can say, nice story, Adrian, good on you. And I'm just going to go live my own life and come to church when I feel like it. Or you can say, in 2025, I recommit myself that I will pursue Jesus Christ with all my heart and I will follow his call on my life.
It's a call to others. It's a call to lift up his name. And it is a call that will bring such blessing and joy to your life. There's a lot of nice things in this life. You know, the greatest joy that I have that I.
It grabs me even when I'm feeling down the joy of serving Jesus Christ and loving him and giving him my life.
Have you done it? Will you do it again? Will you rise up from this place and say, jesus, help me serve you? This is what we're going to do. We're going to pray.
We're going to give ourselves an opportunity in a moment right now to say, lord, I recommit my life to following your call.
What do you need to do in order for that to happen? You've got an example before you some other great men and women of God in our church and around us. But it's your decision. It's your decision, Peninsula. Let's do it together.
Together. Let's choose him together. And you watch what God does through us. Let's pray.
So, Lord, it's time again you didn't I thank you Lord, that you don't apologise for asking us to sell out our lives fully to you. Because it's the only true life that we can lead. Everything else is fake. Everything else leads down pointless paths. So grab a hold of your people, Holy Spirit.
Forget what is behind and pressing forward to what is ahead. We need a who needs a revelation afresh of Jesus Christ, Lord. I need an impartation from your presence, Lord, and be filled afresh with you, Lord. I'll commit myself to the transformation journey so that I can go to the generations all for your exaltation, Lord, let that be the prayer of our heart. We commit our afresh to you in Jesus name.
If you need to make a decision right now, where you've been, far from God, and you say I haven't been close to God. Now's the time in your own heart when you just say, in your own heart, just say, lord Jesus, forgive me for my sin. I believe in you. Be my Lord and my savior.
Jesus name, Amen. You just. Just say that to the Lord. Commit yourself again. If you've been far from God, commit yourself again.
Here's what we're going to do. We're going to sing as we finish today, we're going to sing this song. Sing it, O my soul. Singing oh how great is the love of God. And you say, Lord, as we sing it, if you want to stand and maybe you want to lift out your hands to the Lord.
A peninsula here. You say, lord, I commit myself again to following your call. I'm not going to give kick against it. Some of you been kicking against the call of God because it's hard. There's other pathways.
But it's time to say, Lord, your call for my life. You and you alone are the one I serve. That's our heart, that's our cry. That's our desire. Come on, why don't we sing it together?
And if you want to stand, join with me.
Oh, how great is the love of God he paid our debt on that rugged cross for all our days we would sing our Savior's praise How great is the love of God oh, we're singing oh how great is the love of God thank you, Lord. Yes you did, Lord. You're worth it all, Lord Jesus.
Come on, one more time. Oh, I'm singing How great is your love, Lord Singing oh how great is the love of God he paid our debt on that rocket cross for all our days we will sing our Savior's praise How great is the love of God Come on. All over this place with our eyes closed. If you need an impartation, you say, lord, I need your infilling. God, I need.
Maybe it's been a struggle. Maybe you just say, lord, I need fresh fire in my belly. I want you to just lift out your hands to the Lord. We're going to pray right now all over this place, all over peninsula. Lord Jesus, you're our strength and holy Spirit.
Right now, Holy Spirit, right now.
It's not a struggle. It's a flow of love and grace. Some of you are wondering, how do I Receive it. You open your hearts up to the one that you've met, the Lord Jesus, the one who loves you. And you just receive.
It's not a struggle, it's a. It's ah. He says, I empower you. We believe in being filled, the spirit of God. He's a spirit and he fills your life and your heart and you can sense him and you can have a communion with him that changes you.
And Lord, all over this place, people watching at home. If you're sick in body right now, Lord, let there be an impartation of your grace and your love.
We receive from you. The Lord is your strength, the Lord is your salvation. The Lord is with you wherever you go. The Lord accepts you. The Lord knows you.
The Lord hears your heart and he says, let me come in and commune with you. Let me come in and speak to you. Have a meal with you. And you'll find. You'll find strength.
You'll find that I'm all that you need. You'll find that I'm all that you need. Jesus, you're all I need. Jesus, you're all that we need. Oh Lord, let that be the cry.
Can that be the cry of our hearts as we walk from this place today? Jesus Christ, you're all that I need. Oh, let him be the love of your heart. Let him be the source of your strength. Let him be the one that you receive your love and you pour out your love unto.
And in him you'll find strength, in him you'll find hope. Lord, impart that truth, that beautiful presence of spirit to us today. Be with your people, Lord. They are so loved. You love us so much and you have a better pathway for us.
We don't fight and kick against your will for us, Lord. We receive it and accept us. Help it to help us to live it, Lord, in Jesus name we pray. All God's wonderful precious people said Amen. Amen.
God bless you. We love you. Penalty Peninsula we love you. Connect Christian Church Go and have some morning tea. We'll see you again soon.