Every Believer is Called | Uncommon Culture

Well, we're continuing a series we started last week called Uncommon Culture, where we're discovering the kingdom culture that New Beginnings is desiring to pursue and live in. And we're doing this by walking through four core values that we hold as a church. Last week, I set this series up by saying this, is that your values shape your behavior, and those shared values that we have, that then dictate or shape our behavior, all of a sudden begins to create a culture in which we live in. So culture is just an accepted pattern of behavior that we live in that is informed by our values. And so at New Beginnings, we want to take kingdom values and let that shape the way that we do ministry and the way we love one another, the way we engage the world, so that what we have is a kingdom culture that enables us to make a kingdom impact. And last week, we talked about our first value, which is the Bible is true. Does anybody believe that this morning? The Bible is true. This morning, we're gonna talk about this value, every believer is called. Every believer is called. So we believe that every single person in this room who has trusted Christ as Lord and Savior, that there is a calling on your life.

That calling may not be to be a missionary, a pastor, or a minister, or work at a church, but you have a calling that God has called you to wherever he has placed you to advance the kingdom of God. And I hope I'll help you today discover not just the truth of that, but put you on a pathway of living out that calling. We're gonna look at that in Mark 5. So if you've got your Bibles, go to Mark 5. We're gonna see Jesus go to a pagan community, encounter a demon-possessed man whose life is gonna be forever transformed by the gospel. And here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna see Jesus's interaction with this man, and we're gonna learn three truths about Jesus that'll help us fulfill the mission that God has called us to. And then we're gonna look at this man's interaction with Jesus, and we're gonna learn three things about us and about the calling that God has given us. So six truths and two groups of three, and I think this will be super helpful to you. So Matthew chapter five is where we're gonna be. If you're there, say the Bible is true. They came to the other side of the sea to the country of Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately they met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit.

He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with chains. And it goes on to talk about the fact that this guy was out of control. He was cutting himself, and we're gonna see that he's demon-possessed, and he was running around and sleeping in the tombs, and they would try to bind him with chains, and he would break the chains. This was a man out of control. So you have a demon-possessed man in a pagan land, and here is truth number one we learn about Jesus that is so foundational for us, and it's so important that we get. And here's truth number one, Jesus came for everyone. Jesus came for everyone. I want you to think about the story here just for a moment. Jesus travels across the Sea of Galilee, and he goes to this region, specifically Gerasene, which is in, we'll find out a little later in the story, it's a part of a larger community called the Decapolis. Decapolis is the idea of, there were 10 cities in this community, and here's what we know about the region. This was a Greek, heavily Greek-influenced community full of paganism, full of immorality, full of demonic forces. In fact, one scholar says that this region was the land of Satan himself. So they were very progressive in their technology,

very influenced by cultic practices and pagan worship, and it was a pig-farming community, and many of the pigs that were raised were raised for the purposes of sacrificing to the false gods of that land. And so there was a lot of evil in this region. In fact, Mark goes to great detail to talk to us about the depths of uncleanness that you find there. So think about it. This is a place where it's known for their pig farming, which in the Jewish culture would have been an unclean animal and would have made someone unclean to have a relationship with God. This man lived among the tombs, and so this guy spent his time in the cemeteries, which again was the highlighting his uncleanness spiritually and religiously. This was an area that was heavily pagan and full of all kinds of evil, and then it says this man was filled with the presence of evil forces or demonic forces. And so what Mark is showing us is this. This is an evil land, and this is an evil man, and this is a place that God would have nothing to do with except for his grace and mercy. And the reason Mark is going through this great detail to show us the spiritual condition of this man is because Jesus wants us to understand that he has come for everyone.

Now think about this for a moment. There was only one reason Jesus went to this land. In fact, Matthew and Luke record. a parallel to this that we find in Mark. And Matthew and Luke tell us there are two demon-possessed men. Mark is gonna hone in on one of them and not talk about the other. But here's what we know. Jesus' only purpose for traveling across the sea and going to this region was so that he could deliver these men from the demonic forces and then Jesus gets in his boat and he leaves. Why in the world would he go through so much trouble? And here's why. Jesus came for everyone. And that's good news for all of us. So no matter who you are, what you've done, where you've been, whatever condition you find yourself in, you might be as far from God as you think a person can be. Here is the great news for you. Jesus came for you. Is anybody thankful for that today? That Jesus came for the broken. He came for the outcast. He came for those who we think no one can reach them. And that's the same for the people that are around you. There are friends and loved ones and family members that you live with and live around and people in your life.

And so many of you, you think about, man, they are so far from God. Can Jesus reach them? And the answer is yes. Not only can Jesus reach them, Jesus came for them. It tells us something about the mission of God that we've been called to. Here is a man who is broken and distant from God and Jesus intervenes and redeems him. You know what that means for us? Watch this, listen to this phrase. It means that Jesus is better at saving than we are at sinning. Jesus is better at saving than we are at sinning. But the story goes on to tell us that this man was not only demon possessed, that he couldn't be bound. He was out of his mind. He ran around naked into the tombs and he was just a man out of control. And that takes us to the story in verse six. Listen to what happens next. It says, and when he saw Jesus, the man who was out of his mind, when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and he fell down before him. Now think about this. This is a wild man. Think about Jesus lands on the shore. He's about to get out of the boat

and he looks up into the tombs and there is a naked man out of his mind with cuts and bruises and blood stains and he's running down the hill. He's out of his mind and he comes to the feet of Jesus. And it says specifically that Jesus stepped out of the boat. It doesn't say the disciple stepped out of the boat. You see a crazy man running. You're like, oh Jesus, you got this one. You got this one. You got this guy back here. I'm good, all right. So Jesus steps out of the boat. This man falls down before Jesus and he begins to communicate with Jesus. And what we're gonna discover is that it's not necessarily this man who's speaking to Jesus, but the demonic influences in his life is speaking with Jesus. Look to what happens next. In verse seven, and he's crying out loud. So he runs and falls at the feet of Jesus and crying out loud with a loud voice. He said, what have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? Now pause for a moment here. Listen to this. So the demonic forces are speaking to Jesus and notice the posture.

First of all, they humble themselves before Jesus. Secondly, they recognize who he is. Now think about this for a moment. Jesus has spent a lot of time with religious leaders and spiritual leaders who could not identify who Jesus is, but this demon possessed man knows exactly who Jesus is. And these demons posture themselves into humility, in a position of humility, and they're declaring, we know who you are. You are the son of the most high God. Now listen to what they say next. I adjure you by God, do not torment me. So now they're begging Jesus not to torment them. And they're doing so on the basis, we beg you on the basis of God, the father. So now these demons are praying to the father in order for Jesus not to torment them. See what's happening here. These spiritual forces are no match to Jesus. He said, what do you have to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me. Verse eight, for he was saying to him, come out of the man, you unclean spirit. So Jesus is casting out the demons. And then Jesus said to him, what is your name? He replied, my name is Legion, for we are many. And he begged him earnestly not to send him out of the country. So now there's this interaction.

Jesus is casting them out, what is your name? He answers, and then the demons respond and say, man, don't cast us out of the country. So now they're begging Jesus for permission to go into the pigs, which eventually Jesus is gonna give them permission to do. So here's truth number one. Listen, not only did Jesus come for everybody, but understand this, Jesus can break every chain. Jesus can break every single chain. Notice this man is being described as a man who is out of his mind. He is being physically restrained with chains. He is cutting himself in an attempt to destroy his own life. This man is bruised and he's bloody. And all of this is evidence of a spiritual. bondage that he is in, a spiritual bondage, and no one can help him. In fact, they're trying, watch this, physically to restrain him because of the spiritual chains that he was in. They were putting on physical chains and try to control the spiritual chains. How do we know the spiritual chains? It's because this man is demonically possessed, not just with one demon. Notice this, Jesus says, go back to that verse, first thing is verse 19, maybe, or nine, sorry. And Jesus asked him, what is your name? He replied, my name is Legion, for we are many.

This here, Legion, is a reference to a group of Roman soldiers. In this particular day, a group of Roman soldiers of about 4,000 to 6,000 would be called a legion of soldiers. And so when Jesus says, what is your name, the guy goes, there's not just one name, just call us Legion, so we can estimate, we know that 2,000 pigs were filled with evil spirits in a few verses, so this man potentially has somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 demons inside of him. The picture that Mark is painting for us is this is a man who is broken, he is bound by the evil one, he is under the influence, his life is dominated by evil presence and evil forces, and there is nothing they can do to change it. In fact, they're chaining him with physical chains, trying to restrain him because of the spiritual chains, but nothing is working. Now notice this, notice what they're doing. They're trying to use physical solutions for a spiritual problem. This guy's out of control and he's trying to kill himself and he's running like a madman, what do we do? Well, we don't know what to do, let's put chains on him. And you say, well, that seems kind of silly, right? He keeps breaking the chains and you're gonna put more chains on him, you're trying to solve a spiritual problem with physical solutions, but don't we do the same?

Isn't this the basis of religion? We are in spiritual bondage and we are under the influence of our flesh and sin and we're tempted by the evil one and we're far from God and so what do we do? Well, we're gonna put the chains of religion on, maybe if I put religion into my life, I can do some of the stuff that God wants me to do and what we find time after time after time is that the power of sin is too great and religion can't overcome it because what we're trying to do is religion is about man's solution for a spiritual problem and it's our way of physically restraining our behavior but it cannot set us free. Others of us try self-help and self-improvement and we wanna try to become better people and so we try to have discipline in our life and we're gonna white knuckle ourself to those bad behaviors being gone from our life and we might do good for a little bit but all of a sudden the power that has our life is too strong and it's too great and we find ourselves quitting or getting burnt out or not being able and we give in to the temptation or the sin and we're back where we started from in the beginning. Others of us try to escape the spiritual problem with physical pleasures of the world. We purchase things and we pursue things

and we think relationships are gonna fix the problems that is inside of me and what we're doing time after time after time is that we are trying to use physical solutions to spiritual problems and what we learn in this story is that Jesus is the chain breaker, is that Jesus is the only one that can step in so this man is demonically possessed. Now here's what we know. We know that there is such a thing as demonic possession. In fact, there is a lot more demonic influence that happens in our life than we give it credit for. When you go overseas there's encounters that we've had where it is evident that you're encountering a demonic spiritual force and for whatever reason I think it's because of our education and because of the way that we see the world we kind of see things through just logic and we fail to recognize the very real unseen spiritual world in the very real seen world. Does that make sense? It says two things about us. Number one, it says to us the lack of faith that we have in the word of God that tells us that there's another reality beyond what is seen. The other thing it tells us about the way that we've been deceived by the enemy because if he can just convince us that physical restraints can fix the spiritual problem

then he wins. But regardless of whether it's demonic possession or demonic influence or temptation or just being lost without hope because we don't have Christ, the scripture says we are slaves to sin. Those are the spiritual chains that we are all born into and only the work of Jesus Christ can set the captive free, amen? This is a work that only Jesus can do and Jesus has demonstrated this. Think about this. Jesus has on the way over to this moment where he's now in Gerasene. If you know the story, on the way over on the sea a storm rises up and the storm is gonna sink the boat and the disciples freak out. You know the story? The disciples are like, oh my gosh, we're gonna die in this storm. They look back, Jesus is sleeping on the boat. They wake Jesus up and they're like, do you not care about us? We're gonna die. Jesus stands up and he says. Just his word, he rebuked the wind and the waves, and in an instant, it became as calm as can be on the sea. And do you remember the disciples' response? It's like they took a step back in the boat, and they said, who is this

that the wind and the waves obey him? The very next scene, after him calming the storm, Jesus steps on the shore, and a demonic-possessed man comes to Jesus. Jesus, with just his words, cast the thousands of demons out, showing us, now, both of these stories going together, here is what Mark is declaring, that Jesus is not just more powerful than the natural world, the storms and the wind and the waves, but he is more powerful than the spiritual world, the demonic forces. I love how Matthew describes this. The demons look at Jesus, and here's what they say. Are you here? Are you here to condemn us before our time? Are you here to destroy us before our time? In other words, the demons know that they're on a timer. And they look at Jesus and say, is time up already? See, we have an enemy that is aware of the power of Jesus. Listen, it's time that the church gets convinced of the power of Jesus. Jesus can break every chain, which leads me on in the story. Jesus, I love this, casts the demons out. They ask, don't send us to the countryside. Can you send us into the pigs? We don't really know why. They wanna be sent in the pigs.

And Jesus, I love this, Jesus permits them. I love that, like he has to give them permission of where to go. He's showing his power and authority. They run down, the herd goes into the water, and they drowned, and then all of a sudden, the next scene is people are chatting about this because they saw the man and the pigs. Look what happens in verse 14. Then the herdsmen fled, and they told it in the city and in the country, and the people came to see what it was that had happened. Verse 15, and they came to Jesus, and they saw the demon-possessed man. I don't wanna change scripture, but I would love for it to say the man formerly known as the demon-possessed man, right? They saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had the legion, so they understand the influence in his life, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Here's truth number three we learn about Jesus and his mission. Not only does Jesus come for everybody, he breaks every chain, listen to this, and he changes everything. He changes everything. I want you to go back to verse 15. Notice the phrase here.

This is what the people discover, so when they show up to examine what in the world has happened. Up until this moment, they know the man's crazy. They heard the story of what Jesus done, and upon discovery, this is what they saw. They saw the demon-possessed man, and he was sitting there. Before this, he was running wild through the tombs, out of control. He was also naked, now he's clothed, so he's sitting there, clothed. He was out of his mind, and now he is in his right mind. Paul would say it like this, 2 Corinthians chapter five, verse 17. If anyone is in Christ, they're a new creation. The old is gone, and the new has come. What you're seeing here is that Jesus has radically transformed this man's life, and here's the truth. The power of the gospel changes everything. It doesn't matter who you are, where you've been, what you've done, what the condition of a person's heart is, that Jesus is more powerful, and he can transform anyone from the inside out who will surrender to him. This is a beautiful picture of what the gospel does, and I love this. Notice this.

The man did not have to tell people he was a new creation. They saw it for themselves. You see, the great evidence of our salvation is not in what we tell, because we're gonna talk about story. We need to tell our story. Don't miss that, but it's the evidence of a transformed life. How do we know that this man has been transformed by the gospel? This inside work has outside evidence. He's a different person, and it's unmistakable, and this is what Jesus does, and I love this. This is such a radical transformation. It says when they see the man in this condition, they were afraid of Jesus. They go, watch this, from being afraid of the man, now they're afraid of Jesus. Why? Because there is an unmistakable power that he possesses that they can't deny. Remember a couple weeks ago, Pastor Daniel preached a great sermon. Don't forget to remember was the title of the sermon. It was an unbelievable message, and in that, he shared his personal testimony, and one of the moments in that sermon that was so blessed me was when he talked about laying in bed that night. I just said, Jesus, if you can do what the Bible says you can do in me,

I'm asking you to do it. I surrender my life to you, and he says immediately, things began to change, and he didn't even know what the changes were, but the evidence. of those changes was so radical that his friends were pulling him aside, going, is everything okay with you? Like, you're different. And he couldn't articulate the radical transformation that happened in his life, and his friends were noticing it even though he didn't even understand it. But here's what was taking place in this moment. He was no longer the same person. He was a new creation. And those around him were like, something's wrong with him. Yeah, something is wrong with him. Jesus changed everything. And he was no longer the same person. And hear me say this. He can do that for you in this room and for everyone you know, everyone you know. You see, if we're gonna live out the calling that God has given us, we have to have confidence. Confidence in what? Confidence that Jesus came for everyone. Confidence that Jesus can break every chain. And confidence that Jesus can change absolutely everything regardless of the condition we are in.

Now, the story goes on, and you're gonna see this transaction happen from Jesus interacting with this man to this man coming, interacting with Jesus, and you see this exchange. And in this, we're gonna understand something about calling and what God wants to do in us. So let's look at it, if we would, in verse 18. Verse 18 comes on the heels of previous verses where they ask Jesus to leave. They're like, Jesus, we need you to go. Why? We're afraid of you. We don't want anything you're doing to continue here. Verse 18, so Jesus, being a gentleman, gets in his boat. And getting in the boat, the man who had been possessed with the demons begged him that he might be with him. So he's like, Jesus, you've changed everything. I just wanna go where you go and do what you do. I wanna join you in this gospel work that you're doing because I wanna be close to you and see this happen in other people's lives. Verse 19, and he did not permit him, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, go to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. Notice the language there. Go and tell them what the Lord has done

and what the mercy is that you've experienced. Look at verse 20. And he went away and he began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him and everyone marveled. Now, notice the transformation here. Jesus says, you can't go with us, but I'm sending you. You can't come, but you can go. Go and tell everyone, listen to the language, what the Lord has done for you. What does this man do? He goes and tells everyone in the Decapolis, the 10-city region, what Jesus had done for him. Notice this. This man makes the connection between Jesus being Lord. Jesus, go tell them what the Lord has done. This man says, yes, I'm telling everybody what Jesus has done for me because he is absolutely Lord of my life and I want everyone to know. Now, there's some interaction here that teaches three truths about ourself. This man's interaction with Jesus. Here's truth number one. Listen to this, you have a story, share it. You have a story, share it. Say, what do you mean we have a story? Share it. Notice Jesus' language here, verse 19. And he did not permit him to go,

but he said to him, go home to your friends and tell them, tell them what? Tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he's had mercy on you. And in verse 20, this is exactly what he does. He went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus has done for him. In other words, Jesus is saying to this man, no, no, no, don't come, go, because you have a story that needs to be heard. There is a work that I've done for you and that work is gonna be a testimony to let the world know what I can do in their life as well. So there is a story that God has written in this man's heart and Jesus is saying, you've gotta go share it. This is a man whose life was wrecked by sin, wrecked by the enemy, broken, busted, no hope. Jesus steps in and in an instant, his forever was changed. That's a story worth telling, amen? And Jesus is saying, there are people that need to hear it. You need to go share it. And brothers and sisters, I wanna tell you, if you were in Christ this morning, I want you to know that you have a story. If you have been redeemed, you have a story. I hear this all the time from people that are like, I know I need to go and share my faith or I need to go and tell others about Jesus or I need to live on mission at work or at school

or wherever my context is. I just don't know where to start. Well, Jesus is telling you where to start. You have a story, share it. And by the way, if you have been redeemed by Jesus, then you know everything there is to know about helping someone else be redeemed by Jesus. And here's where the pushback comes in. Here's the pushback a lot of people will give. But man, this dude is demonically possessed. Like he's got a story. Like he's got a real story. My story's not as attractive as that story. My story, for some of you. Maybe, man, I got saved at 10 years old at VBS, and man, I was raised in church, never really ran from the Lord, always had pretty much a relationship with Jesus, some times better than others, and man, I've just lived for the Lord, and He's just been doing this work, and I'm madly in love with Him, but that started at 10 years old. There was no dramatic transformation in my life like in this man's life. My story isn't worth sharing. But I wanna beg to differ. I believe your story and the demon-possessed man's story is a lot closer than you think. In fact, here's what I would say.

Every person who has ever received the redeeming work of Christ and have been saved, you have a miraculous story. You have a miracle that has happened in your life because it is impossible for humanity to reconcile our relationship with God because we're broken and we're sinful, and we have no way of redeeming ourself, but God steps in and intervenes and does a work in us we could not do for ourself, and that is miraculous, whether you was at 10 years old, 20 years old, 30 years old, or 70 years old. You know what your story is? It's like 10 years old, VBS, gave your life to Christ, never really ran for Him, sometimes hotter than others, but for the most part, you just love Jesus. You love Him more now, and He's doing this work in your life. You know what your story is? Hey, God is so good, and I am so broken that God had to step in my life at 10 years old before I went off the deep end, that God's grace is so sufficient that He stepped into my life because if He'd not stepped into my life, I would've run the wrong direction, telling where I would've ended up, but praise be to God by His grace and mercy in the midst of a broken, corrupt world, and there's all kinds of baggage people are carrying.

God's grace is so great. He stepped into my story before I went that direction, and that is what He's prevented me from. So whether it's 10 years old or you could be the person, man, I was demon-possessed, a drug addict, running from Christ, and He intervened. It's the same story, just in different seasons of life. You've got a story to tell. Share it. I love what one man said. He says this. He says, we are all storytellers. All of us are telling stories. We live in a network of stories. There isn't a stronger connection between people than storytelling. Your story is one of the greatest inroads into a gospel conversation with friends and family because you don't have to start with them. You can start with you. You say, hey, listen, I never told you like someone says, man, why are you so nice? Let me tell you what's happened in my life. And can I tell you, like last two weeks, or last week, rather, 9, 30, and 11, we have baptisms happening. You know what happened during the baptisms? Story after story after story after story. Little snippets of what Jesus has done. Some young, some old, some in the middle.

Story after story after story. I had the privilege of walking up here without preaching one sermon. And why? The sermon had already been preached. And on the basis of stories being shared about the redeeming work of Christ, 14 people gave their life to Christ. That's the power of a story. You have a story, share it. Here's number two. Number two, you have a platform, use it. You have a platform, use it. Look what he says in verse 19. And he did not permit him, but he said to him, so Jesus says, you can't go with me, so this man wants to go and join Jesus's platform. I wanna go where you go, I wanna do what you do, and Jesus redirects the man and says, no, no, no, that's my platform, you got another platform. Notice what he says. He says, go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you. And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. Now, verse 19, go back to verse 19. Jesus says, you can't come with me, but you can go home. Go to your family and friends. And so this man, Jesus is saying to him,

look, your platform is not where I'm going, it's where you live. And then he says this in verse 20. Not only does he go to his home, but then he goes to the Decapolis. There's a 10-city region here. So now he's going everywhere, why? Because he understands everyone really knows his former life, and so there's an inroad and a platform, because people are gonna listen to what he has to say. Now, here's what I mean when you say platform. A platform is literally this. It's your sphere of influence that God has given you right now in the season of life you're in. So what do you mean sphere of influence? Family, friends, co-workers, classmates, teammates, people that you run into frequently at the coffee shop. So it's gonna be casual relationships and rich relationships and everything in between. Listen to me. God has strategically placed you where you are, when you are, with who you're with for a reason. That's your kingdom platform. where your calling is to be lived out. And Jesus is showing us the epitome. We say here at New Beginnings, we wanna be people connecting people to Jesus

and his ever-restoring life where we live, work, and play. And this man exemplifies this. He starts where he lives, where he works, where he plays. He starts at home and into the greater region that he has opportunity because he's recognizing, I have a sphere of influence, I've got a kingdom platform, and I'm gonna leverage it. So watch this, your job is not about your paycheck. Your ball team is not about just the wins and the losses. Your hobby and your recreation is not just about leisure time or your health. All of those things in your life, those are kingdom platforms. And when you begin to recognize that I have a platform, you begin to use it, a whole world of ministry opens up because now you're living with purpose. When you get up in the morning, it's like, I'm not gonna clock in to get a paycheck. I'm gonna work diligently, I'm gonna do my job with great effort and skill, and I'm gonna be precise in what I do, but as I do it, I'm engaging in relationship and I'm leveraging every single moment because this is the platform that God has given me and I'm gonna take full advantage of it. This is beautiful truth. Every single one of us has a platform. Here's the last one, listen to this. So you have a story, share it. You have a platform, use it,

and you have a calling, pursue it. So you say, what do you mean when you say calling? Because in especially the Baptist world, we think calling, we immediately jump to this idea of pastor, preacher, missionary, minister on staff somewhere, maybe running a program within a church. I'm called to be a pastor or minister or shepherd, something like that. But that's not what we mean when we talk about calling, it's not what the Bible talks about. Now, there are other ways to do it. What do you mean when we talk about calling? It's not what the Bible talks about. Now, there are those who have that calling and then there are those who are called that don't have those calling. Now, watch this. Here's how I'm gonna explain it to you. This is gonna be a refresher for some of you because a few months ago, I talked about this. So when it comes to calling, there are two types of calling. There is general calling and then there is unique calling or specific calling. Now, eyes right here for a second. Every Christian has both. Every saved person has both. You have both a general calling, which is the calling that God has given all of us. What is that? It's the Great Commission.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and name the Father, Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. Our general calling is to be disciple-making disciples. And you see this throughout the Bible. Whenever Jesus calls people into relationship, he is calling them into mission. Peter, James, and John, Andrew, right? And so you have these, and James, you have them and they're fishermen and Jesus says, hey, come follow me and I'm gonna make you fishers of men. What is Jesus saying? An invitation to follow me is an invitation to mission. You see this with the woman at the well in John four. She meets Jesus, he changes her life. What does she immediately do? She runs back into the village, leveraging her kingdom platform, declaring what Christ had done for her. Why? What compelled her to do it? She understood an invitation to follow Jesus is an invitation to mission. You see this with the Apostle Paul. You see it with the demon-possessed man. Immediately he goes and proclaims and calls. Why? Because every single one of us have a general calling,

but then we have a unique calling. So what is a unique or specific calling? It is the way that God has wired you uniquely to fulfill the general calling that he's given all of us. Your unique calling is how God is specifically calling you to fulfill the general calling. That makes sense, say uh-huh. That doesn't mean you're gonna be a pastor or a preacher or a missionary, although some of you are called to that. But for the majority of people, it's gonna be wherever you live, work, and play, understanding that here there are three elements to discovering your unique or specific calling. So you wanna take notes with this. I'm gonna walk you through this and I'm gonna show you with a picture in a moment what this looks like. So, and you see this in this man. This man has a story, right? So his story is Jesus transformed his life. He was demon possessed. Out of his mind, Jesus radically transformed. This man has passion. What is his passion? I wanna go where Jesus goes and do what Jesus did. And then you see this man going and telling everyone. So this man is passionate about people knowing Jesus and hearing the story of how he's transformed him. And then you see that when he tells the story,

the people marvel when they hear it. What does that mean? This man's pretty good at speaking. He's pretty good at this whole storytelling thing. So you also see abilities. That make sense? So this man has a story. This man has passion and this man has abilities. And those three things together help us understand our calling. Let me show you this in a Venn diagram. Notice this. There's my story. Every single one of you have a story. And then you have passions. So there are things that just drive you. You get up in the morning thinking about, and you're driven by, I wanna see God do this in people's life. Or man, I feel alive when I do these things for ministry and activity for the kingdom. And then you have abilities. These are the things that you're just simply good at. So where do you find your unique or special calling? Listen, it is at the intersection of your story and your passions and your abilities. That's where you discover your calling. And what that means is, is that we don't have to necessarily change vocations or occupation or anything else.

It means that we now can look at the platform that God has given us. We can identify, man, what's my story? And this is, by the way, it's not just your gospel testimony. It's the entire story of your life. It's the community you grew up in. It's the people that influenced your life. It was the hardships and the failures and the struggles and the pain points of your life. All of that is a part of your story. And then you meet Jesus, and then there are still continued growth after. So you gotta discover your story, and then you gotta ask yourself the question, what's burning inside of my heart? What makes me, when I'm doing this for the kingdom, wherever I do it, what makes me feel alive? Passions gets me up in the morning. Like when these type of conversations have, I go home, and I'm just like, like I could run through a brick wall for the kingdom of God. Discover your passions, and then what are you good at? Like when I think I'm pretty gifted in X. Here's why it's important. It's the intersection of all three. Because if you have a story, you know your passions, but what you're passionate about you're not good at, probably shouldn't do it.

Like I love to teach. Well, the problem is nobody wants to hear you teach. Probably not your calling, right? So, what do we do? We discover all three of these things. And so, listen, we are deeply committed at New Beginnings. We want every single one of you to discover your calling. In fact, we've created a pathway for that here at New Beginnings. In a few weeks, we're gonna offer a class called My Design, and My Design is gonna help you discover your story, and your passion, and your ability, so that you can begin to let God create an understanding of that sweet spot of life for you called calling. And so, this is why I think people run from their calling because they think that if I surrender to my calling, God's gonna lead me into places that I don't really wanna go and I'm gonna hate. And nothing can be further from the truth. Now, there may be things that are hard, and different, and difficult in your life, but God uses your story and your passions. Passions are desires, and then your giftings. And listen, discovering your calling, when you begin to live where you live, work, and play, on mission, understanding this is why God has put me on planet Earth, and this is how my life can be used to shape eternity, there is nothing more life-giving than that.

There's nothing more life-giving than that. In fact, when you discover your calling, you're gonna feel so alive, you're gonna be like, yes, this is what's been missing in my life. This is why I knew there was more to the Christian life. I'm just kinda clocking in and clocking out and volunteering at the church, and it seems like I know Christ, but something's missing. When you discover this, you're like, yes, this is why he redeemed me. So we were committed to helping you with that. So in a few weeks, we'll be advertising for this class called My Design, I encourage you to come. We're gonna help you discover those three things and begin to put you on a pathway. It won't be the end-all, be-all, but we'll put you on a pathway of discovering your calling. And this is where you begin to see a kingdom impact happen in your life, and that's what we find in the story. You know what I love about this story? Is that this story ends in two ways. Jesus is rejected by this community. They see the miracle of salvation, they see the power of God unleashed. You know what their response was? Jesus, we don't want what you're selling, leave. Get in your boat and go. And Jesus leaves this area. They reject Jesus altogether. But then Jesus leaves behind one man

whose life has been transformed. You know what happens next? This community that rejected Jesus, just two chapters later, when you get into chapter seven and chapter eight, Jesus is actually gonna come back to the Decapolis. The same region where they told him, we don't want you, leave. But when Jesus shows up to the shoreline this time, he doesn't find one demon-possessed man running to his boat. He finds a whole crowd of people who have brought the sick and afflicted and the oppressed and the broken. And there's a crowd there and they're waiting on Jesus. And Jesus comes out and he engages and he performs miracles. And these people are so overwhelmed that in Mark chapter eight, it says that they sat at the feet of Jesus, more than 4,000, 4,000 men, not counting women and children, for three. Days they set at the feet of the teaching of Jesus and they they took everything in he was saying and they sat there without Food for three days fasting just to hear him so that Jesus says to the disciples I feel broken these people have been here for three days with no food Let's give them something to eat and then Jesus performs the great feeding of the 4,000 right after feeding of the 5,000 in this region This great miracle takes place The question we got to ask ourself is this what's the difference in this community between chapter 5 and chapter 7 and chapter 5? We don't want you in chapter 7. We've been waiting for you. What has been the transformation in this community?

I'll tell you it's one man with a story. That's what changed this area It was one man who saw the gospel transform his life with a passion to tell others who understood his Platform who walked in his calling and because of this not just garrison But the Decapolis now has thousands and thousands and thousands of people who now follow Jesus all because one man who was hopeless helpless broken and Jesus intersected his life and changed everything and If Jesus can use that man in that way he can use you as well He can use you as well, so the invitation is going to be very simple four parts And I'm asking everyone to stay locked in for a few minutes. Not a lot of movement unless you're moving with the invitation I'm gonna ask you to bow your heads if you would there are some of you in this room and The response that you have is a gospel response. You are not certain that you have a story You see it all starts with a story See, what do you mean a story the story of where Jesus intersected your life and you became a new creation? Where you stopped living for the things of the world and you began to live for Christ and his kingdom and submitting to his lordship The Bible calls it being born again. That's what happened in this man's life And if some of you in this room, there is a question mark in your heart of whether or not you've ever Had a relationship with God through Jesus whether you've ever been born again maybe you've been trying the the chains of religion and Self-help and becoming a better person and It's failed you time and time and time again And it's time for the first time for you to let Jesus step in and to do in your life only what he can do So if you're here today and you need to trust Christ as your Lord and Savior right now where you are You can just confess to him Jesus. I need a Savior This is what happened earlier today in the 930 service Just say to Jesus. I need a Savior. I believe you died. I believe you're alive again And I'm asking you to make me new Do in me what you did in the man in the story. I Don't want to be the same again

So for those of you who just prayed that prayer Saying today is the day of salvation and then for there's other of you who have made that decision But you've never been baptized So both groups those who just pray to receive Christ today or those of you who have but you've never been baptized I'm gonna ask you to do something very bold. We do this all the time. You're in good company Today if you are trusting Jesus or wanting a relationship with him or wanting to be baptized into his name I'm gonna ask you to do me a favor right now Just stand to your feet if that's you for those of you who just prayed to receive Christ or want to be baptized I know it takes courage. But listen following Jesus takes courage. So I'm gonna give you an encouragement right now Just stand to your feet right now Say pastor, I trust Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior today, or I want to be baptized into his name Just stand to your feet Based upon the response Everyone this room is either a believer or is Rejecting Jesus in the moment So the second response would be this for those of you who know, you know him, you know, you know him There are some of you in this room that there is a calling on your life and it's not just Calling like a unique calling where you live work and play But there's a unique calling in your life that some of you believe that God is calling you to ministry vocationally like to leave your career or leave whatever you were going to do and say I want to I want to go full-time in the ministry as a missionary as an evangelist or as a pastor or a minister and You sense there's a calling in your life But you've never surrendered to that and you're feeling that stirring in your life you're like I have fought this long enough God is calling me to step in faith and Surrender and to do the thing he's called me to do which is to work full-time in some sort of ministry or church setting If that's you I'm gonna ask you to courageously just stop running

and just stand to your feet if that's you. Say God is calling me to vocational ministry. I know He's calling me to ministry and I'm tired of running. I want you to stand up. The third category is this. There are some of you have a deep desire to know your unique calling, your specific calling. You're like hearing you talk about there's something that God wants me to do with my life that's unique and specific for me to advance His mission. I don't know what that is, but I so want to know what that is for my life. I wanna just pray for you. I'm not gonna ask you to come forward, but I am gonna ask you just to stand to your feet if that's you. You're like, man, hearing you talk about this, I desperately want to know that unique calling because I wanna live on mission for that. Just stand to your feet if that's you. Thank you. Yeah, all over the room, just stand up if that's you. Like, man, that's something that resonates with me. Just stand to your feet. And just know that God has that for every single person. There's just some people that want it more than others. And so if you're saying, hey, I want to know what that is, continue to stand, we'll give you a few more moments. Father, I'm praying in the name of Jesus

that you would step in and speak to each person, helping them identify what it is that you're calling them to do. Shape them, Father, show them their story, show them their passion, show them their abilities so they might be able to live, work, and play for your glory every day of their life. They would know the reason they get up every morning and they'd be running after it with all that they have. Father, thank you for that desire. It's in Jesus' name, amen. For the last group, it's for those of you in the room who you know there are people in your life and they have never heard your story, but they are in your sphere of influence. In other words, you got a kingdom platform in their life and you know these are people that I know in my life and they've never heard my gospel story and I don't know that I know theirs. But I want Jesus to use my story to intersect their story. If that's where you are, I'm gonna ask you to stand. If there are people in your life who've never heard your story, but you know they need to and you know that God wants to use you in their life, just stand to your feet if that's you. Say, I wanna be prayed for. There are people in my life, people in my pathway. Now, based upon where many of you are, either there is a disregard for the people in your life, and I'm just gonna say it like it is,

a lack of care and love and concern, or maybe you're just a great evangelist that everyone in your life already knows what Jesus has done in your life. What we wanna do is pray for those of you who are standing and I'm gonna pray that God would give you by the power of Jesus Christ, the ability and the desire and the opportunity to make that call, to schedule that coffee, to go to that lunch, to meet with that dinner so you can say, listen, I've never told you what Jesus did in my life and I've never heard your story. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for every person standing that you would work in their life, use their story in the life of the people. Lord, there are names and there are faces that are being thought of right now in the minds and the hearts of these people. I pray that you would give them the ability soon, in 24, 48 hours to make that call, to set up that opportunity to share. And I pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to give divine words, to give authentic words, and that it would be a holy encounter where lives can be forever transformed and changed. We ask that in the name of Jesus, amen. Amen.