Market Place Ministry - Peter Tsukahira

place of Christians in the marketplace, about your calling and about your responsibility and your place in God's kingdom. You know that today we're living in a time of great restoration. This was prophesied in Acts chapter 3 verse 21 when the Apostle Peter spoke about an era of the restoration of all things that would precede the return of the Lord. Surely in our time we've seen the restoration of the nation and the people of Israel to their land and the re-emergence of messianic believers in Israel and around the world. These are Jewish people who believe in Jesus as their Jewish Messiah and here in Israel we have many Jewish people along with their Arab Christian brothers and sisters worshiping Jesus in his own land, in his own language among his own people for the first time in 2000 years. These are signs of a great restoration that God is doing preparing the world for the return of his son. And so in this restoration one of the things that is being brought back to the church is a renewed vision for the kingdom of God. This is so important because this is a revelation that was given to the patriarchs of Israel, the great fathers of our faith as Christians and also it was given to the writers of the New Testament and of course all of these were Jews. This revelation of God's kingdom and the priority of God's kingdom as preached by Jesus back in the days when he walked this earth. Now in order to understand the aspects of the kingdom of God in the world, and this is very important, I'm starting with these foundations because as marketplace believers you need to have this biblical foundation because this is really a fundamental to the restoration of our time. God chose Israel for a specific purpose and he speaks about this purpose in the scriptures back in Genesis chapter 12. I'm going to read to you Genesis chapter 12 verses 1, 2 and 3. Now the Lord said to Abram, "Get out of your country and your family and from your father's house to the land which I will show you and I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing and I will bless

those who bless you. I will curse the ones who curse you and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." Okay, so this is where the people of Israel really got formed, God formed the people of Israel from one man, Abram who is named, he later changed to Abraham and of course we Christians know that when we have faith in Jesus we become spiritually the sons and the daughters of Abraham. So we are grafted into this family. This is our family tree spiritually speaking and the thing I want to point out to you is that from the beginning when God chose Abraham and gave him this initial promise it was that he would become a great nation, that's Genesis chapter 12 verse 2, "I will make you a great nation and you will be my possession." Now after Israel came out of their time of slavery in Egypt, this is centuries after Abram, God met them in the desert and here's one of the things that he said to them, one of the first things that God said to the children of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, now when they came out of Egypt where they had been slaves for four centuries, God met them in the desert and here's Exodus chapter 19 verses 5 and 6. Here's what God said, "Now then if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant then you will be my own possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine and you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." That's Exodus 19 verse 6. Now the reason I'm emphasizing this is because it connects with God's original promise and call to his friend Abraham, he said, "I will make you a great nation." And then centuries later after they had been slaves and they'd never really had a land, it had been promised to them but they'd never owned it, the land of Canaan and they'd never governed themselves, God met them in the desert and he me a kingdom, a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation. So why is this so important as a foundation? Because this is really the foundation of the Christians who are called to serve God in the marketplace. And why do I say this? I hope this isn't too round about for you, but it's vitally important because the kingdom of God is a nation. That's where that's the starting point with God.

He envisioned this for Abram, and then he called the children of Israel to be a kingdom unto himself, and that means they became a picture, a prototype, the pattern, the template for the kingdom of God. Okay, when God calls them as a people, it says, you'll be to me a kingdom. It means God is going to be king, and they become the kingdom of God. So the kingdom of God starts with a nation. Now, why is this so important? Because the people of Israel were 12 tribes. Only one of the 12 tribes was called to a specifically and professional religious calling. One of the 12 tribes was called to be priests, so they were professionally religious workers. All right, they were supported by the others, and their job was to prepare the sacrifices and the offerings and do all the things religious for the people. But 11 of the 12 tribes did everything else that a fully functioning nation would need. They were, they were the merchants, they were the farmers. And remember, back in the days of the Bible, there was only really one industry, one main industry, and it was agriculture. Okay, of course, there was there was fishing and there was there was animal husbandry, feeding the flocks and and and and herds, but basically the central industry of Israel was agriculture. So all of Israeli society was organized around that industry, and we can make the parallel today, still today, less than 10% of all Christians will work professionally in the ministry. And this is the same proportion as it was one out of the 12 tribes, less than 10% were professional in ministry. The 11 tribes or more than 90% of God's people worked in all the other areas of society. This was God's plan. It was not an accident. It's not second class to be in the marketplace. It's part of God's plan, because God's plan is to disciple nations, not just build churches. And this is, I think one of the reasons why we need to restore these foundations, because many times we think that the only thing really valuable to God involves the church. And so those who have their vocation, their profession in the church are elevated to a certain status. And everybody who does not find their vocation in the church doesn't feel as spiritually valuable to God. This is not the case. And the God said to Abram, I'll make you a holy nation in order for you to be a nation. I need business men and women. I need men and women who are disciples in the marketplace, in every walk of life, in every corner of society, who are able to take the values of my kingdom, the beliefs of my kingdom, to the roots of their culture, because God intends to rule the nation. His instrument to rule the nation is the church, but his goal is to rule the nation and to disciple the nation. This is part of the Great Commission of the Lord. In order to rule the nation and to disciple the nation, God needs his disciples in every area of the national life.

And that is why some of us are called to business. Some of us are called to education. Some of us are called to the medical professions. Some are called to the legal profession. Some are even called into into commercial art. Some are called into entertainment. Some are called into the media. Some are called into politics, but it is the duty and the responsibility of the church to disciple and to equip, to equip all the members of God's kingdom for their calling. And again, once again, let me emphasize this, less than 10% of us are called professionally. So this is a foundation that needs to be laid. In fact, all of the Old Testament is the story of Israel's receiving of that call. When Israel was obedient to that call, God exalted them as a nation, lifted them to great heights, gave them wonderful leaders, King David, the early years of King Solomon. Israel, as a nation, was a wonder and a light to their world. This was a picture of God's kingdom. You know, what really made King David a great king was that he, in his heart, he wanted to be the little king so that God could be the great king. He was a man after God's own heart, and he wanted, he knew that his nation was God's kingdom and that he was the little king who got to serve God. You read his Psalms and that shines through. That was his ambition, was to be a leader for God. And he passed on this incredible inheritance to Solomon, and Solomon, of course, took the kingdom of Israel to its heights in terms of its renown and its status in the world. And this was meant to be a glorification of God. So it's important to realize that this is what Jesus means by the kingdom of God. Jesus did not invent the term the kingdom of God, but he was bringing it to its fullness, to its perfection. And so when he said to the people of his day, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be added to you, they understood that their nation was intended by God to be his kingdom. And so so many of Jesus' parables begin with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is like this, the kingdom of God is like that. He taught them continually using those parables and speaking to them about the kingdom of God.

Jesus calls his message, actually he never calls it the gospel of salvation. Certainly it's never called the gospel of church growth, it's called the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of the kingdom. He taught us all, of course, to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So this was a focal point for the Lord. He focused on the kingdom and he urged us in his inspired words to do the same, to put his kingdom as our highest priority. And now as we restore that foundation, we understand that what God intends for his kingdom is for it to be the nation and his church is really the instrument to bring God's rule to every corner of the nation. How do we do that by discipling everyone in the church? We disciple everyone in the church. We end up discipling the nation because the people in the church are 90% of them. They spend their lives, they find their vocations, they may come to church regularly and serve in the church and volunteer in the church and all of these things that are wonderful and good, but they are going to go out on Monday morning and find their vocation and make their living in the marketplace. Most of the people who come to church, that's God's intention. They are called. They are gifted. This is part of their God-given destiny. So now I'd like to go on from the foundation of God's kingdom and speak to you a little bit about finding your personal place in God's kingdom. All right. So if I'm telling you that God intends for his kingdom to be an entire society, a society in which our religion or the church plays an important central and vital role. The apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists according to Ephesians 4 are for the equipping of the saints for their work of service. And so there's an important discipling process, an important vision casting process is an

important evangelistic process that has to take place through the church. It's vital and it's central to every society. And nevertheless, it does not take the place of God's kingdom vision. That's God's intention, and it's why in his great commission at the end of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus commanded his disciples, and through them, of course, that command is to us, go into all the world and make disciples of every nation. Go out and make disciples of the nations. And so he intends to come back and rule all of society, not just the church. He's going to rule all the society. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. And so we are his kingdom representatives now and going out to bring his kingdom to earth. He said, "Make that your highest priority." But in that endeavor, how do we, in the marketplace, how do Christians who are not called to serve vocationally in the church, how do Christians in the marketplace and in other callings of life, how do you find your place and how do you know that it's your chosen and divinely selected place in life? Well, the answer comes from the Bible. And so my prayer is that revelation will be given to you as we go through these scriptures. Now, many people in the Bible, at some point in their lives, came to the conclusion that there was nothing accidental about their life. And I'm going to give you some biblical examples

of people who came to the conclusion that they were not an accident, but in fact, their lives had been planned before they were born. Let's take a look. I'm going to start with the prophet Jeremiah. This man was a young man when he received his call and he went out to speak God's word to his nation, one of the great prophets of Israel, but he had a difficult message, an unpopular message. And it must have been a tremendous challenge for him and maybe even moments of discouragement when he cried out to God about his calling. And so God spoke to him in Jeremiah chapter one, verse five. I'm just going to read these few words that God spoke directly to this young man and they must have been given as an encouragement to him in his unusual calling. Jeremiah chapter one, verse five. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. That's pretty amazing, right? God is saying to young Jeremiah, look, who do you think made you a prophet in the first place? I designed you to be what you are. Before I formed you in the womb, I already knew you. Before you were born, I had already set you aside and appointed you as my prophet to your nation. And so basically, God is saying

because I did these things and it's not accidental. And it's because I take responsibility for you. You don't, you know, it's a difficult calling and it's a high calling, but the responsibility is not yours alone. God says, I designed you, I chose, I selected. You didn't have, you really, this is before you were born. You didn't have anything to do with this. I will take ultimate responsibility for your life and for your calling. And so I think this must have come as an incredible and wonderful injection of faith into this young man's heart. He could now roll his cares and his burdens and the challenges of his life onto the mighty shoulders of the Lord who was standing next to him and taking responsibility for his calling. Now, Jeremiah is not alone by far. Let's take a look at another example. How about, let's go on to King David. King David was a warrior most of his life. He lived a very dangerous life and fought many enemies. But later in his life, he wrote songs of praise and worship inspired poems put to music in which he speaks the oracles of God. And I think this is really important for us to follow. Let's take a look at what King David says to God, inspired by the Holy Spirit in Psalm 139. Okay, sounds similar to what Jeremiah was saying, that I was designed by God and you designed me even before I was born. But if we go three verses forward, it gets deeper and more mysterious. Let's take a look. Psalm 139 verse 16. Here's what David wrote to God or sung to God

inspired by the Holy Spirit. "Your eyes have seen my unformed substance and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them." Okay, I think you'll agree with me. That is deeper and more mysterious. Isn't King David saying that God had made a daily plan for his life even before he was born? And before he lived any given day, God had already written it down in his book. Now, that's quite amazing. I mean, especially considering that David lived such a dangerous life. Think how many times in life of King David, when he would get up in the morning, strap on his sword, step out of his tent to do battle, not knowing what condition he might be in at the end of the day. In fact, not even knowing if he would return at the end of the day. So he lived in danger. He lived in uncertainty. And yet later in his life, he sings back to God, "Oh Lord, I didn't know how my days would turn out, but you always did." They had already been written down in your book. That's pretty amazing, right? God's foreknowledge, God's ability to plan ahead and to ordain things that as yet are not. Okay, the list of these kind of examples in the Bible goes on and on. And I'll leave it up to you to find more of them. I'll mention a few more. The prophet Samuel, you may remember the story in the Bible. Samuel's mother, Hannah, cannot have children. And it's considered a mark of disfavor against her. Maybe that God isn't so pleased with her and she's not giving children, so every year she would go to the house of God and cry out to the Lord, "Oh God, give me a son, give me a son." And it would seem that every year God's answer to her was no, no, no, and no. Finally, Hannah gets so desperate that she makes God a vow. And she says to God, "In effect, Lord, if you will give me a son, I promise I won't even raise him. As soon as he is old enough, I will bring him here to the house of God and he will grow up here and he will always and only serve you." And it seems as if God at that point says, "That's a good deal, Hannah. I accept that." And she immediately becomes pregnant with Samuel. Now, when Samuel was just a toddler, Hannah, his mother kept her promise and she brought him back to the house of God and that's where in fact where he was raised. And what a man he became, one of the great, great-est leaders of Israel, spiritual leaders. He's a mountain of prophetic understanding of courage and integrity. He walks in the spirit of the Lord. He anoints the first kings of Israel. During his tenure as the spiritual leader, he's the, actually he's the last of the great judges and a forerunner of the great prophets of Israel. What a man. What a leader. What an example. But none of it was accidental. Now we realize that instead of a mark of disfavor

against Hannah, when God was saying no to her, now we understand that it was as if God was saying to this woman, "Hannah, you're precious in my sight, please be patient because I have something special for you." And it wasn't until she made that promise and said, "If you give me a son, he will be raised in the house of God and he will always and only serve you." Then God says, John the Baptist the same way the angel appears to his father in the temple and The angel of God tells the father of John the Baptist all about his son That he'll be a forerunner that he'll go in the spirit and power of Elijah even his name His name will be John Before the before the boy is born the Apostle Paul He wrote to the Galatian church that he planted in Galatians chapter 1 verse 15 But when God who set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through his grace Paul reveals to the Galatian church says there's nothing accidental about my life and my calling as an apostle before I was born as a Jewish boy in a in a Roman colony of Tarsus in a Greek-speaking city outside of Israel before I was sent to Jerusalem to study under Gamaliel before I became a Pharisee of the Pharisees and persecuted the early disciples of Jesus before I was struck down by the Lord on my way to Damascus to further persecute his servants before the faith in Jesus came into my heart and my eyes were open before I studied at the feet of the original apostles of Jesus before I became an apostle to the nations before all of that God had already planned. I mean this none of that was my accident All of that was part of his plan because he had set me apart From my mother's womb. He had he had he designed this for me from before my birth He had already called me to be his apostle by his grace, okay? So Paul there is exalting in the foreknowledge of God in his personal life and then the final example when we come to Jesus I think we'll all agree There's nothing accidental not not anything accidental about the life of Jesus He's always been the Son of God from eternity until eternity There's never been a moment when he has not been one with the Father when Jesus in his incarnation said I and the Father are one He meant whatever I see him do that's what I do whatever I hear him say

That's what I say and it wasn't just for that particular moment that he was talking about he says this is an eternal truth We are one we always have been one and we always will be one there's there's absolutely no shadow of turning There's there's no deviation. He is the exact Representation of God in the flesh. He's the the radiance of the of Almighty God the the perfect image of the Lord This is why his his his ministry is able to save us. He's the exact representation of God's nature Which is what it says in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 and of course I already quoted to you John 10 verse 30 I and the Father are one Okay, so Jesus life was planned from eternity. He before the foundation of the earth He has been the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world Okay, so after looking at these examples. What is that five or six direct examples? And there are many more if you if you take the time simply to read through your Bible and look for these clues There are many more examples of people whose lives were planned before they were born There's I think there's only two possible conclusions. You could come to The first of these conclusions might be oh Yes, well, I suppose God has some some elite Servants some specially chosen ones whose lives are planned before they were born This there there must be some obviously the Bible is correct about that and so I suppose there's there's some people that God specially creates And specially plans or maybe he he hand crafts people like this in some type of luxury workshop and a reserved part of heaven and These are a special elite servants that like we've just read about and then of course There's the rest of the people who serve God Like me who are who are basically stamped out in a factory in the industrial part of heaven, okay? I'm obviously I'm But I think maybe subconsciously, sometimes we think, well, there are some people who God has planned their lives and they have a destiny from God and they have a calling and they have a gifting. And then there's people like me

that are kind of the clueless, okay? We're kind of wondering what we're doing here. Okay, so that's the first conclusion you can come to when you read the Bible and you see God's plan for so many people, there must be at least two classes of servants and the planned ones and the clueless ones, okay? All right, but the second conclusion we could come to is that what's true about all of these people that we just read about in the Bible, whose lives are planned and they were designed before they were born, what's true about them is also true about each one of us and that when God creates a human, the only part of his creation that he has made in his own image, when God creates a human, he always plans that human with a destiny, with a gifting, with a calling and that's part of the plan. Now, I'm going to go with the second conclusion because I think that's consistent with God's character, God's nature and the testimony of the Bible. We are all created in the image of God. There is something special about every single human. Our God is a God of amazing and infinite variety. And he is almighty God. He never has to do the same thing twice. And most of the time, he's so powerful and so sovereign if he ever wanted to do something exactly the same, of course he would be able to do that. But most of the time, God chooses incredible variety. Every piece of every grain of sand is different

from the next one. No matter what beach you go to in any part of the world, every single grain of sand is going to be different from the next one. Every leaf on every tree that ever grew on earth or ever will grow on earth. Every leaf of every tree is different. Every wave on the sea, every cloud in the sky, infinite variety, unending variety. And so when it comes to humans, the crown of God's creation, the only part of the creation where God's word says, they are in God's image. How much more do you think God crafts a human? And so each one of us is the result of a design and God designs according to a plan. And in that plan is a calling, a destiny and a gifting that God never changes his mind. Once he has decided, that's what it is. And that's who we are. Now, because we are in the image of God, we have freedom. We can choose God's plan. We can make the decisions that are necessary to align with God and by faith, stand with him and to meet the challenges, to struggle through the battles in order to have the plan of God in our life or we can reject his plan. That's within our power. It's given to us as humans in the image of God.

But that doesn't change the fact that God plans every human. And in his plan, there is a destiny, a calling, a gifting and a reward. So God creates each one of us for a purpose. And, but we are born into a broken world. And, you know, I'm a grandparent by now. And the truth is that we parents, we don't know the calling and the destiny of our children. And we can have some idea. We can pray for them. We can have a prophetic word or even a prophetic vision for our children. But think about so many parents who are not even believers in God. And so most people are born and they have no idea, no concept of God's calling. And so we go out into the world, lost. We don't know who we are. And it's a broken evil, sometimes violent world. And so many lives are wasted through crime, through drugs, through brokenness, through illness, through disease. and destruction in this world, it's a dangerous world. And because of this, because of the tragedy of mankind, God out of mercy and love and just out of tears, God calls to us, God calls to everyone. But the Bible says, many are called, few are chosen. God's call goes out to every human, and God's call is especially concentrated and powerful in the preaching of His Word.

It's important to preach, to teach, to sing, to proclaim the Word of God because God's call is going out to all humans through His Word. He calls in an infinite variety of ways. And all the time, 24/7, He calls to all humans through the love of a mother or father, through the faithfulness of a husband or a wife, through the loyalty of a friend, through the beauty of nature, through the precision of science. God is calling, calling, calling, His Word is beaming out like a light. And some, by the grace of God, become aware of being called. It really is by the grace of God. We all begin our lives lost. But by the grace of God, at a certain point we realize there is a God, a good God, a loving God, a great Father who's calling me. And again, by the grace of God, some of us begin making the decisions to turn our lives in the direction of that call. And no one can tell you exactly where the dividing line is, but it's in the making of those decisions to answer the call that we move from being among the called to the chosen. The called and the chosen. Basically, I'm saying we end up choosing to be chosen. By God's grace, we hear His call. By God's grace, it comes into our hearts and our minds to turn towards that call and begin to follow it. And in that, in those choices, we become among the chosen. Now the Bible has a word for those chosen people. They are the called out ones, the ones in whom the call has become affected. And we get called out, out of despair, okay, into joy, out of futility, into purpose, out of darkness, into light, out of death, into life. Okay, we get called out the, rather the Greek New Testament word for being called out is like chlesia, and usually that's translated in the New Testament as church. Okay, so that's the church. The church are the individuals who have been called out, out of darkness, into light,

out of death, into life, and have accepted the call there. The church should be the chosen ones. Okay, the ones who have answered, answered the call. Now, I'm going to take the last few minutes to take you down this road. Because each one of us is called for something different. And when we are equipped, when we make up our mind, we will follow and we will do what our master has called us to do. Some of us began to find that we're called to this profession or to that profession. We're drawn into this. Sometimes it's a matter of prayer. Sometimes God opens particular doors. Sometimes it's through a friend, but it's the sovereignty of God. When you begin to submit yourself to God's calling and begin to come to him and say, Lord, I will do whatever you say. Just show me where I belong. God will open the door for specific training. God will open the door in a company. God will open a door in a ministry. God will open a door into a marriage, into a relationship that he's chosen. God guides and directs our lives as we submit to him as those who have been chosen and have come out of darkness into light. As we submit to that calling and as we follow the leading of the Lord, there is an ability that begins to emerge and it emerges from within. Someone will be called to business and the question is, should I remain in business? What should I do Lord? And as we submit these things to the Lord, and then a business skill and an ability to make good judgments, to manage people, begins to emerge in some person. And that person may say, well, you know, I'm going to follow this because God is opening doors. I'm being promoted.

People are saying, you know, we want to give you more responsibility. And so often this is the leading of the Lord. And this is the emergence of a spiritual gift, spiritual in the fact that it was given by the Spirit of God, it's part of the design for you. There's an infinite variety of gifts. Some, some can teach, some can lead, some make, make music, some do science, some are able to, to influence others that an infinite variety of gifts and part of our calling is to find that gift because that gift leads to reward and God never calls us to futility. He does not call us to despair. God also spoke through the prophet Jeremiah when he said, I know the plans that I have for you. It's for good to give you a future and a hope. This is, this is part of our destiny, part of our destiny. And as we submit to God and follow his leading, our calling becomes sure, it becomes powerful. It becomes, we become confident in it. And in that calling, our gifting emerges as we discover our gifting and begin to use it with diligence and commitment and with gratitude, bringing it back to the Lord and telling him, thank you, Lord, for, for giving me this gift. Then it pleases God to anoint our gifting with his power. You know, I have, I have someone close to me in my, in my life who is gifted as an accountant, believe it or not. And that's not a gift that I received. You know, if you show me a spreadsheet, a multi-page spreadsheet, the numbers in it look like little ants crawling around on my desk, right? But, but this person can look at the same spreadsheet and in a few moments say, Oh, well, it's perfectly clear to me. You've got problems here. In fact, your organization has three main problem areas. And my advice is that you address this one first, you know, that's evidence of a gifting. You know, people, people are gifted in, in so many different ways.

And it's, it's our calling and our giftings that working together and submitted to God in, in, in, in his holy spirit, the power of his holy spirit. And we become discipled in using those callings to exalt his name. That's how nations are discipled because one will be called to business, one will be called to medicine, one will be called to the legal profession, one will be called to a corporation, one will be called into politics, one will be called into, into the media. But as we go out, each one of us has our sphere of influence and taken together through this, the multitude of the callings of, of the Lord in the marketplace, we begin to change the nation. So I'd like to encourage you, if you've discovered that your calling is to the marketplace, be encouraged. Bring your calling back to the Lord, submit it to him, ask him for guidance and direction. All out to him, pray for an anointing and for guidance and direction. And also if you're like I am called to serve in the church, let's never forget that the apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists, those who are professionally called to serve in the church, our role, our responsibility, our duty is to equip the saints, the rest of the people for their service, and in this way we contribute to bringing his kingdom to earth and seeing that his will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I'd like to pray with you for just a moment, Lord, I want to thank you for those Christians who are called to the marketplace. I ask Lord that they will make their calling and their, your selection of them sure that they will become confident in it through prayer and practice and that they will find their gift and be able to to make them very fruitful in their work, very successful in their work and so prove to be your disciples. Jesus said, "You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good work and glorify your Father who is in heaven. I pray this for all of these who listen to this message and I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.