Luke 6:12-19, "A Call to Ministry"

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the May 17 sermon from Clifford Baptist Church, 635 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Today's scripture is Luke, chapter 6, verses 12 through 19. And the sermon is entitled the Call to Ministry, delivered today by Pastor Jeffrey Campbell. [00:00:14] Speaker B: I'm grateful at what the Lord is doing and I know that sometimes I overuse the word grateful. But it's amazing that apart from the Lord Jesus, none of us would be sitting here today. And as we learn what it means to be called in ministry today, I pray that as we look together at God's word, that God will lead us and lay upon our hearts where he would have us to serve him and how he would have us to serve him. Have you ever had a feeling or being felt like you were led to do something? Maybe you have thought about it before and you get the urge that you've got to do something. Maybe you've changed jobs, maybe it was to a relationship in your life, or maybe you needed a leading in how you were to serve him. For believers listen, even though that can be hard to navigate sometimes as believers we have a helper in the Holy Spirit. And so we should lean into that helper. We should lean into God to help us make those decisions. And even if it's the right decisions. But today, as we consider, how do we make those decisions and how do we know if they're the right decisions and how do we know if it's God's will for our lives? I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, but mentally, here's what I wanna ask you a question. How many of you know today, without a shadow of a doubt, you. You are in God's will. How many of you here today, question, doubt, wonder, Sometimes we are hit with that. And I'm not gonna stand before you and say I've never wondered and doubted. Four years ago, I made a huge decision to leave the corporate world and to enter ministry full time. Never been a full time pastor. That was a big decision. Four years later, I feel like I made the right decision. But I don't know. There's still that doubt that lingers today. You may be in that same situation as we look at scripture today in Luke chapter number six, we're gonna see how Jesus finishes out his call to 12 men that will walk in ministry with him. But here's the key thing. When Jesus called these men, little did they know the impact of they would have around the world. Clifford Baptist Church. What we are doing in ministry today, we never know the long lasting or the long term effects that that will have in God's kingdom. And we pray that we are just a small stepping stone, a small part of what God does for years and years and years to come. And so today, it takes every one of you to be on the ministry team of Clifford Baptist Church in some way. What does that call to ministry look like for you? Well, today I pray a very simple scripture will open our eyes and our hearts to what the Lord wants to do. Look at Luke chapter number six. We're going to read. We're going to just start with verse number 12, but we're going to go through verse number 19. Today. Luke 6:12 reads like this. And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. When we consider a call to ministry, and here's what I want to be clear in the very beginning of is this. You and I are called to some sort of ministry for our Lord, whatever that would look like. We're called to serve him in some way. Some are called to maybe what we would consider in our own minds, a loftier calling, let's say that of a pastor. How many of you in this room know you're not called to be a pastor? Raise your hand. Praise God. Praise God. Everybody's not called to be a preacher, a pastor, a deacon, but we are all called to serve him in some way, be a part of what God is doing in ministry. And so today we see the first point in that is this. When you are considering a call to ministry, you need to lift it in prayer. And not only do you need to pray about it one time, but you need to pray about it multiple times, many times, and for a great length of time. That's what I think I learned from verse number 12 today. But we're gonna look in three areas. We're gonna look at the mountain, we're gonna look at men, and we're gonna look at the multitude. And they're all gonna teach us a different lesson. Let me show you what the mountain teaches you. Luke 6:12 says that Jesus goes up on a mountain to pray, and he continued all night in prayer to God. What that mountain teaches me is that we need to be prayer warriors. We need to lift everything to prayer. How many of you pray for your families? How many of you pray for yourself? Raise your hand. It's okay to pray for yourself. How many of you pray for what God wants you to do and how you were to serve him? Those things should be bathed in Prayer along with many, many, many other things. But as we see Jesus go to this mountain, on that mountain, Jesus is not there for any other reason but to consider what God would have him to do. And so what this mountain teaches us is as Jesus is doing ministry, even though he is God, he cannot do it apart from God's leading in his life. And so he desires to make sure that every step along the way is under God's direction. Remember, Jesus has been busy. He has identified himself as the Son of Man. He has forgiven sin, he has healed others, and he is making. He has worked on the Sabbath, and he is making the religious leaders very, very, very upset at him. And now, why does Jesus, if he is God, why does he need to pray? Well, I would argue the same reason that you and I need to pray. Even though Jesus was God, he was fully man. And even though under those temptations and the pressures of the religious leader, Jesus is in the middle of expanding a worldwide team, that he would reach the world with this good news. And in doing so, he needed to make sure that he had the right people around him. How many of you know it's important to have the right people around you? And so Jesus, as he goes to this mountain, he's going to assemble 12 people that will join him in ministry. And he wants to get those 12 right. But he understands the greater purpose of. There's a greater message that the world needs to hear. Now listen, I want to tell every one of you and even myself today, and I'm probably preaching to this point more at myself than at you. It is important to intentionally get away to the mountain. Listen to me, Church. I'm not telling you to take a vacation. I think those are important as well. But what I'm telling you to do is there are times that we must intentionally get with God to make sure that our life is a representative of the God that we love. And the only way that I have found that we can do that is to get away from the busyness and this world and. And get alone with the Lord. And so today, when we think about a mountain, for you, it may only be a room or it may be a place where you and God cannot be bothered or cannot be distracted, but can spend time together. I believe some of the most important points of Jesus ministry. Where were his prayer times? Because he could not do anything else apart from God's leading. And that should be a lesson for you and I. If we enter some calling, some ministry, something that we feel like we need to do, and you do not bathe it in prayer. You probably should not do it. Every step that you and I make as children of God need to be bathed in prayer. And so what the mountain teaches and what Jesus teaches is this. It is crucial that our desire be there. Our earthly assignment, our earthly lives carry out our Father's business. And whatever that looks like for you, you must make sure that you spend time in prayer. You and I have an earthly assignment. We are not on this earth by accident as believers trying to figure out what God exactly wants us to do. It must start with prayer. That's what the mountain teaches us. What do the men teach us? Well, let's look at verses 13 through 16. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples. And of them he chose 12, whom also he named apostles. Simon, who also was named Peter, Andrew, his brother James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas. James, the son of Alphaeus and Simon, called Zelotes, and Judas, the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. We look at these four verses and we see names of very familiar men to you. And when I mean that you've heard their name, whether it be in Sunday school or learning in a song or through the years, you understand these as the 12 disciples. But as we look at these, this list of 12 men, we must understand what that means about our calling. So point number two today, when you understand or you're trying to decipher that call of ministry, point number two is this. Consider your calling. Now, it's no question if you are a believer, if you're called to serve the Lord in some way. There's no question about that. So how should you do or what should you do in your calling, in your service to the Lord? Now he's finishing out this list. And as these men will spend the majority of their time with Jesus, the day breaks after a long night on the mountain in prayer, and Jesus gets to work. He gets to work early in the morning. I like to always rub that point in because I'm an early bird. It's important. My God time is the morning time. And but Jesus gets to work. And what we see here is he is finalizing his team of men that not only will transform a little bit of area, but will transform the world. All right, I want everybody's attention today. Church. Listen. Is it our responsibility to transform our homes for the Lord Jesus? Absolutely. Is it our responsibility that Jesus planted us here in Clifford, Virginia, that Clifford Baptist Church impact the world for Jesus? Absolutely. But let me ask you this, do we take that to the world? Is it our responsibility to go to the world with the good news of Jesus Christ? Absolutely it is. These 12 men didn't know they were signing up for that. But it's amazing what the Lord would do through what he has called them through. We see not only are they disciples, but what God's word teaches us, that Jesus actually had many disciples. In Luke chapter number nine, he will send in Luke chapter number nine, the 12 are going to be sent out. And Luke chapter 10, 70 more disciples are going to be sent out. Two by two. We're going to get to those in the days ahead. But as these disciples are being set out, this group of 12 is going to be his close knit group, his core group of people that will hold him accountable. But here's the way that I've grown to understand it is they are now in on the job training. In my corporate job, guess what? I had to make sure that every person that come through the doors there, they went through a checklist and they got signed off. They did their hours. They did. You had to sign off. Oh gosh, you talking about a headache. To make sure they get what they're supposed to and then you sign them off and you send them out to do their job. Well, isn't it funny? The Lord has me in this position to kind of do the same thing, to call people to the Lord Jesus to make sure that they're plugged in and they're trained up and they're ready to do what God has called them to do. Well, listen, that is exactly what Jesus is doing with these 12. He is calling them to a deeper walk. And that word apostle is used there. Now notice he is calling 12 to relate to the 12 tribes of Israel. But their job would be to share the message of Jesus, his life, his message, his power, his love with a world that desperately needed it. What does that word apostle mean? It means this to sin. It also means that these are people that receive direct teaching or training from Jesus. But really what separates an apostle from anybody else is this. The apostles seeing Jesus as the resurrected Lord. And so in our belief, we don't ordain apostles anymore. We don't make apostles anymore. But these 12 apostles, these 12 men are now commissioned to spend time and to learn from Jesus. Now what do we find in this list real quick? Simon, Andrew, James and John. Those four men have a background as a fisherman. And Jesus calls them to leave that profession to, to be fishers of men. Jesus called Thomas, Nathaniel or Bartholomew that's the same person. And Philip, we don't know much about their background, but they could also have been fishermen as well. Then we see Matthew. What do you know about Matthew? Well, Matthew was a tax collector. He worked for the Roman government. And Simon the Zealot, on the other hand, he tried to overthrow the Roman government. He was a political revolutionary willing to sacrifice his life to take the Romans life. So here's my political speech for the day. Okay? Matthew worked for the government. Simon hated the Roman government. And yet they were on the same team. Jesus said, I want both of these men on my team. In my circle. We're introduced to Thaddeus or Judas, the brother of James. James the son of Alphaeus or James the Less. We don't know much about their background. And then the last is Judas Iscariot, which is the treasurer or the traitor of the group. That's what we learn about these 12 men. But here's what I why do I go through those 12 men? This could have been a sermon in its own self. But here's what I want you to understand today. This group of men teaches us this, that Jesus chose simple and perfect men to be ones that take the gospel into the world. Can Jesus do the same? At Clifford Baptist Church, three people believe it. Church. We need to believe that. We need to believe that, hey, if I'm not the best or if I'm not the most qualified, that Jesus will give me all that I need if I desire to serve him. And I will desire to serve him with my entire life. These men would spend life with Jesus. They would learn from him. They were from different backgrounds and personalities and passions. And Jesus united them under his teaching to send them out with the greatest message the world needs to hear. That Jesus Christ loved them. Jesus Christ would give his life for them. Today. Consider what God has called you to do. And here's what you need to understand from this list of men. You don't have to have it all figured out. You don't have to know it all. You just need to follow Jesus when He calls you. You need to pray about what he's calling you to do. And you need to consider what he's calling you to do. And the last point today is this. You just need to go and be faithful and follow. Before I move on to that last point, after spending time in prayer trying to figure out God, what do you want me to do? What's the next step? Do it. And that is the greatest step of faith that any one of us can take. Not knowing what awaits? Having many questions, but depending on the Lord to lead us step by step. One of the questions that I was asked in the interview process to become your pastor, I hope I'm not giving too much information. Jim, where do you see yourself in five years? I ask couples that I cancel to marriage the same question. Because here's all I'm looking for. I'm looking for this simple answer. We want to be together. No matter what the jobs look like or the families look like, we're going to remain together. And that was the answer to my church when I interviewed. What do you see yourself? I see myself as the pastor of the church. Now. What the church looks like in five years, I have no clue. What my leadership looks like, I have no clue. We will walk with the Lord step by step. And so today you may not know exactly what God is calling you to do, but if you feel him leading you in a direction, you better take a step of faith. Point number three today is just be faithful to that ministry. Look at verses 17 through 19. And he came down with them, stood in the plain and the company of his disciples and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And they were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue out of him and healed them all. This is why Jesus spent time on the mountain. And this is why Jesus needed men, because the multitudes would come. And as those multitudes come, they bring all of their issues and they bring them to Jesus. And here's what I want you to know, Church. There's a lot of people in this world with a whole lot of issues. And if we can't point them to Jesus through our ministry, we're doing ministry wrong. Here's our answer. Jesus can help you. I look across this sanctuary today and I look at the lives that are being impacted by the Lord Jesus, and they're wondering what they need to do and how they are to serve him and what's their next step. In this room are homes that are fractured, marriages that are broken, children that are wayward, even lost. People are in this sanctuary today. And here's what I want you to know, Church. If I can't point them to Jesus with my ministry in the wrong ministry, and if you can't point them to where God has planted you, you're in the wrong ministry. I was a supervisor in A machine shop. Can you point people to Jesus there? Absolutely. If you've ever worked in a machine shop, there are some people that need Jesus there. And I was one of. Maybe you work in a school. The school. School you work in. We can't talk. Don't believe that lie. You can talk about Jesus the way you do. It may have to be a little different. You can't get in the office on the PA system. I know that. But boy, a little child that comes to you and you just say, I'm praying for you. That little child may remember their teacher prayed for them. What is your ministry? What does it look like? Where are you planted? Here's what Jesus wants these men to do. Just simply to be faithful to what he's called them to do. They didn't know all the answers. They didn't know what their yes was getting them into. They were faithful along the way as they were on the job training, they. They immediately go to work. As they descend from the mountain, Jesus has been in prayer. The men join them. And now the multitudes flock that need Jesus. I don't know how many are numbered here in my sanctified imagination or my sanctified guess. Hundreds to thousands of people that need to touch Jesus are just coming at him. And here's what I want you to see. These men understand that Jesus has the power to heal everything. As you are praying about where you want to serve the Lord and how you're going to serve the Lord, look, when you look at ministry, it can be overwhelming at times. If you take a step back and you look, listen, if you go downstairs or you go to King Jesus right now and you look at 50 kids at one time, y' all think, I don't have hair. Now, some of y' all would look like me. You might say, no, that's not for me. But just because one area's not for you doesn't mean all areas are not for you. And so as God calls you to ministry, it's going to be overwhelming and it's going to be hard. But there are times that we just got to buckle down the straps and say, this is for Jesus. And if it means somebody gets pointed to the Lord Jesus, that's what the Lord has me to do. So today, the multitudes can overwhelm us. The multitudes can bring complications and concerns and questions. But here's what I've learned in ministry this week. Jesus has not brought one person, one family, to Clifford Baptist Church by accident. They may have heard on the radio. They may have saw online. A friend may have told them, but I believe the Lord has brought every one of you to this place. So, church, we need to be faithful in ministry. And here's what we've got to realize. The faithfulness doesn't fall on one shoulder because those shoulders will fall. It falls on us all. And when you do your part and I do my part, realizing that we are called together, the Lord will be glorified. Praise be the Lord. Today, Church, I just want you to. I'm calling you in this ending of the sermon to intentional prayer. A few weeks ago, we had a national day of prayer. I sat back there and on the back row back over there, and I prayed over this message because I knew it was direct. But here's what I truly believe. Worldwide ministry can flow from Clifford Baptist Church. How does that happen? It happens when people pray and people consider where they are called to serve. And then when people are faithful to go and serve the Lord with all they have. How will God use you? As we end this sermon today, Some of you are in this room, may be considering the mission field and what that would look like. Start with prayer, and you've got a helper in the Holy Spirit as a believer that will lead you step by step to where you need to be. You don't need to see five years down the road. You need to see today, and you need to see tomorrow. And you need to be faithful there. Maybe today. Ministry is calling you to move off the mountain, move away from the small group and go to the multitudes. I don't want you to miss this saying or get it wrong. It must begin with prayer. But prayer then leads to action. And that's where we're called to go. The multitudes outside of this door need the same Jesus that we worship today. If that's in your home, if that's in your workplace, if that's in your school, if that's where God's calling you to go, be faithful to where he's called you to go in ministry. Today in this room, maybe there's somebody that has never committed their life to Jesus. Before you can say you love somebody and before you can go on ministry for someone, you got to know who you represent as a Christian. I don't represent Jeffrey Campbell, the Campbell family. I don't represent Clifford Baptist Church. My ultimate person that I represent is Jesus Christ. And I represent Jesus Christ because he is Lord of my life. And today, if you need him as Lord, don't you leave this sanctuary without coming to him, acknowledging that you are a sinner and he is the only one that can forgive sin. And by his blood on an old rugged cross and his rising from the dead on the third day, he gives you life and forgiveness for the rest of your life and for all eternity. If you will just come in faith today, Church, I'm calling you to a moment of intentional prayer. And I'm going to start this moment in silence as we pray together. Let's go before the Lord, O God, today as we bow before you, Lord, I pray for men and women, boys and girls, families that are represented here today. Lord, as we think about our little part and our little community where you have planted us and how important that is to be faithful in what you have called us to do, God, I pray that you will just continue to lead us, that we will be careful to spend time with you in prayer as you lead us to where we need to be, Lord, that we will be obedient to that call. Lord, maybe in this room today, there's some people that just want to bow before you a little bit longer at an altar and pray over situations or direction or family ministry. God, I pray at an altar, Lord, that you will meet them there. Maybe at an altar of an heart today, God, that you'll meet somebody that needs you as savior. And they've ran and they made excuses, but today they feel that nudge that direction from the Holy Spirit, that they need you. God, I pray that you lead them to that point of understanding that in their life they need you as their Savior. For our church family, as we think about what ministry looks like today and moving forward, it may look very different than it has in the past, but oh God, just teach us to be faithful. Be faithful in the pulpit, be faithful in our Sunday school classes and our small groups. Be faithful to women's ministry or men's ministry. Be faithful to our children to teach them about Jesus. Oh God, I pray that through this message today, God, that you will open our eyes and our hearts to where you would have every one of us to faithfully serve you. We love you. We give you this time now in Jesus name, amen.