Elevation with Steven FurtickPeople throw around the word “calling” in church. But how are you supposed to find yours? Knowing when God is actually calling you to do something in your life is often a lot more complicated to figure out than we'd want it to be. It would be great if we could get a clear, 'Yes' or 'No' but often we need to learn to move on a 'Maybe'.
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Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Enjoy the message.
God brought you here today to let you know. That was my voice calling you. That was me that gave you that talent. That was me that made you good at that. That was me that opened the door for you. That was me that gave you that responsibility. That was me that gave you health. That was me that gave you strength. That was Me that gave you that connection. It was him the whole time. It was It was the Lord that called Samuel, but it was Eli that Samuel ran to. What are you running to? You? If you're running to something that is not your purpose, you feel it.
You feel it in several ways.
But one of the things I want to mention is I'm trying to surround myself in this stage of.
My life with people who bring out the God in me.
And that's just me.
Now.
I don't mean I'm going to be mean to people who don't know the Lord, or I'm going to go and live in a monastery or something like that.
But you know, there are some there are some texts.
That I don't return in this stage of my life because I feel like I'm in a season where I'm trying to do important things and my calling is valuable, and so my contacts are very important because certain stuff is contagious, and I know there are certain people. When I get around them, I feel something rising me that lets me know I can overcome. And I need them around me. I need them to rub off on me. I need them to speak into my life. I need them to encourage me.
I don't need.
People who are laying back on the last thing God did in this season of my life. I need people to push me forward. Yes I do, Yes, I do. I gotta be careful reading the comments on my Instagram in this season because whatever I may contact with I catch and see.
I need the word of the Lord.
I need vision, I need hope, I need purpose, I need security.
And so he runs to Eli, but Eli tells him is God you need to speak to and the right contact in your life will always point you back to the only one who has real power. Thank you God for this word. I feel your spirit on this one.
This is not healthier because what the concept of calling that most of us have is that you're going to go on a forty day fast in the Holy Land and God's going to speak to you when you walk where Jesus walked and the Sea of Galilee. But the Lord is not going to speak to you on the Sea of Galilee from a voice on the water. He's gonna speak to you, and I know you don't want to hear it because it's sexy to thing that someday there's gonna be a voice that speaks from heaven. It's not gonna be like that. It's gonna sound like Eli. It's gonna sound like Eli. And it is through Eli that God calls Samuel Eli. This isn't Billy Graham. This is the dude who blew it. And this is how bad he blew it. WA's what ultimately happens when Samuel laughter three times? Everybody say three times? How many times do I have to tell you one time? Holly, she loses her temper with our kids a lot. Y'all pray for her.
It's kidding. It's a very effacient mom.
But one time she was so mad at Elijah he was only about four. She said, how many times do I have to tell you? You got this real fear? Look in his eyes? He goes three times? Look at the verse eight again a third time. How many are glad that God has called, waiting that God will call you again? Ask Jonah. Jonah wasn't even a talented preacher. He didn't have funny stories, he didn't have good charisma, he didn't even like people. But God used him because when God calls you, he will call back. You know how there are some people when you call them, you have to call them, and so you're secretly hoping you get their voicemail because you really don't want to talk to them anyway.
Some of you think.
God is like that, like he really wants someone else, and he's really glad that he doesn't have to deal with you. But God wants you. God wants you. God shows you. God put the genetics in you, the DNA in you, the passion in you. The opportunity is for you. What God has for you, it is for you. That's why you don't have to be jealous, insecure, bitter, resentful, That's why.
You don't I'll have to get back.
That's why you don't have to take revenge, because what God has for you is for you.
Y'all awake, somebody shout here.
I am And that was really the answer, because it's not only the culture that confuses us in our calling. It's not only our contacts sometimes, but it's the conflict of calling. The conflict of calling is great on an internal and an external level.
Now what Samuel did next, what.
A beautiful little story right to show us that God repeats things.
That's one way I know he's speaking.
You ever noticed this when God is trying to get your attention. It's kind of like when you're shopping for a certain car and you start seeing them everywhere. When God wants to get a message across to you, he'll he'll put you in the market for it. And you never even looked at anybody else's beats. But now you're like, well, what's that one? How's that one different than that one? And this one and the other one? Because I'm in the market for God. When you get in the market for God, you start noticing that He's He's been speaking all along, just like just like there was there was confirmation. I didn't have time to put this word in the sermon. It starts with the letter CE, so it could be a bonus point confirmation. God, God will speak something over here, over here, over here, and you'll start noticing it. You'll start noticing little things, and then it'll you hear it in the sermon, and then you hear it in a movie, and then you hear it in a song, and then you hear it you see it on somebody's the back of their window, and then you hear it through your husband, and then you hear it through and you just see it and just hear it, and you start seeing it and you start hearing it, and then you have to discern, which is to separate. That's what Eli did. He discerned the Hebrew word is being. He discerned, He separated, He made a distinction. He had a discern.
Meant to know. This is the Lord calling the boy.
So he said, when it happens again, and this is the word of the Lord for you when it happens again. When it happens again, if it happens again, just say speak Lord.
Your servant is listening.
And I want to show you something that the Lord just show me His greatest revelation happened in rest. Eli didn't say, Oh, that may be God, you better run out and catch him before he leaves. Well, if God spoke to you, better chase him down. No, if it was God's speaking, he'll come back. All you got to do is be in position for it. That's all you've got to do. You don't have to find it, it'll find you.
Trust me.
God is not playing hide and seek in the Tabernacle. God is not running around the tent. Haha. If I hide behind this table of chowbred, Samuel will never find me back here. God's not hiding behind the labor. You know, He's not hiding. And even though God is always moving, he's never hiding. That's what the Tabernacle was was a portable structure, and they set it up in the wilderness because they never knew when God was going to say stop and when God was going to stay go.
Why?
Because God does not want you to depend on his will. He wants you to depend on him. There's a difference. One is God, just show me what to do. That way I won't need you. The other one is God, I want you wherever you lead me wherever you take me, whatever it means, whatever.
It costs, and whatever it looks like.
But here's the conflict, because Samuel goes in and he lays down the Bible says he didn't know the Lord yet. He knew how to He knew how to be the bread in the tabernacle.
That was his job. You know, how to open the doors so people could come worship.
He knew how to follow Eli around and get me this and get me that. But there's a big difference between the rituals of religion and a relationship with God. And if you're going through the motions, like you know, singing songs, not really thinking about the words, just kind of singing them, or just kind of like hearing little forgettable things that I say in my sermon that you know, you won't even remember what it was about fifteen minutes after I'm done. It's possible that you don't know the Lord yet. I don't mean you're not a Christian, not necessarily. I don't mean you don't believe in God. I mean not necessarily. But to know him is to know his voice. And when you know him like that, I hear things that are hard to hear, but you can know that even when he says things that are hard for you to hear, he says them from a spirit of love, grace purpose. One of my friends is a real overtext. I can't keep up with him, and I love him, but my thumb's hurt and I can't do it. And I don't voice text because it's annoying because it corrects the wrong words the wrong way, and you can get in trouble that way and say something you didn't mean to say, end up firing somebody you meant to hire. But it changes. It doesn't know because your voice anyway. One time he texted me, he said, how come our conversation is all gray on iPhone? When they text you, it's gray, When you text back, it's blue. When he said that, I wondered if sometimes my relationship with God is all gray to where he is speaking and he is prompting and he is provoking. But God can speak, Speak speak. Three times he did it. God didn't say anything different the third time except this when he said, speak, Lord, your servant is listening, and he laid down in his place.
I got to hit that real quick.
I know we're running out of time but it says Samuel went and laid down in his place.
That's first nine. Put it up.
Samuel went and lay down in his place, in his place, in his place, you will realize God's purpose when you get in your place, touch somebody next to you and say, get in your place. Because if God is dropping off the mail but you're not home, you won't get it, and you'll think he didn't send it, and you'll think he didn't speak. But I learned something with my friend. It was not just the conflict of the calling. It was the color. It was all gray. But the breakthrough is in the blue. It's not just when God speaks. It's when you get in your place and say, God, here I am the real me, the honest me, the open me, the ready me, the humble me, the broken down me, the me that.
Is ready to do your will.
Because I've done my will and I saw how that worked out, and I'm ready to do your will. That's what Isaiah said. He said, I'm an unclean man with unclean lips. But if you'll take that coal and touch my lips, I'll speak for you. Because Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. So here I am I'll go. Moses stood at a bush. He turned aside, took off his shoes, and said, God, I'm slow of speech. I'm not eloquent, and you saw the things I did that put me in this predicament. But if it's you calling here, I am somebody shout here, I am. Jeremiah said, I'm too young for this, and your people are stubborn, and you know they're not gonna listen. But if it's you calling me here, I am somebody shout here.
I am.
And the reason I'm confused about my calling is because I don't just have one. This is what I didn't know in my twenties, because I felt like God called me to preach you.
Iver felt like God called you.
To do something put you somewhere.
I mean, maybe it wasn't something big spectacular. Maybe you're not gonna do a halftime show at the super Bowl with it, but God called you to do something. I just saw your Patriots gear made me think of the super Bowl. God bless you man, congratulations on that. I hope you're happy.
Now. How many is it gonna take for you guys to shut up about it?
But there's a there's a blessing in it. There's a blessing in it, even if it's a small thing. And you say, okay, God called me to do this. But then what happens is, look, I was called to preach, right, so I start preaching.
I start going around preaching.
I'm preaching everywhere, preaching everywhere they asked me to come preaching. I'm preaching at the lock in. I AP preach. So I preached some one time, so late at the night, it was three am, and I had this sermon illustration where I would take a mirror and I'd break the mirror, and I AP preach Genesis one twenty six about the Image of God. And Holly can tell you we knew where the mirrors were in every walmart in the state of South Carolina, because every time we get to a new little town to preach the fifteen kids, I'd go in and get a.
Mirror and then I'd break it with a hammer.
And I say, this is what sends us to you, you know, put the condemnation on the young people.
Just put it on them. Are breaking mirrors.
And one boy went to the emergency room because the glass flew up and hit him in the eye. And I had to call his parents and tell him not to sue me.
I'm a man of.
God and I got a ministry, and if you assume me, God's going to curse you and make you.
But I didn't say that. But I was running around preaching, right.
But then I'm married Holly, and I realized I'm called to be her husband too. Come on, it's the conflict of calling. It's complicated. You can make it sound sup. Well, find your calling?
Which one?
Because then I was called to be a preacher and a husband, and sometimes they needed different techniques.
What if I walked home and said, Holly, give him a seal of praise.
It's different callings. That's three people. Because I this just does. And then by the time I'm getting these callings, you know, I got how many? You got at least two callings in your life, at least two things that you're responsible for, and they're in conflict. Sometimes Here she comes pregnant four years into marriage.
Here she turns up pregnant. Now I'm called to be a parent.
Now I'm called to.
You feel like you're not just putting on different hats, but you actually have like different heads.
I read that in that Sitser book. The will of God is a way of life.
He said, I felt like I didn't just have different hats, I had different heads. And this is the conflict of calling. But the answer is always availability, presence, access. When he said speak Lord, your servant is listening, it created access not only for God's word to come to him, but for God's word to come through him. And what God said was difficult. He said, I'm transitioning. Not only am I transitioning you from an apprentice to a priest, from a priest to a prophet, but I'm transitioning Eli and his Son's out of the earth so that my purpose can be fulfilled.
I'm transitioning. I'm transitioning, and.
You're going to have to go through a difficult transition right now. But by the time we get to First Samuel four, verse one, the Bible says that Samuel's word came to all Israel. I was curious why I didn't say God's word through Samuel. But by this point in First Samuel four, because Samuel said, here I am speak Lord, we have now gone from the word of the Lord was rare to the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Because he had gotten to a point where he heard God's voice on the level that when he spoke, what he spoke came directly from the Throne of God. God wants to get us to the place where we are not running around all the time talking about what we're going to do one day. Some of you are using the concept of a calling as a crutch to not fully embrace the season of life that you're in, and that is not the will of God for you. And you may be called to be a mom one day, but if you're not a mom right now.
Can you say, here I am to this season.
And you may be called to own your own business one day, but can I just say that in the meantime, the only thing that God has.
Ever wanted from you was all of you.
The only thing that God has ever asked of you is here I am. It's what Jeremiah said, it's what Moses said, it's what Isaiah.
Said, it's what Samuel said.
And when he made himself available, the word of God became abundant. I want you to stand to your feet because God has been speaking your whole life. He's been speaking through hard things, he's been speaking through painful things, he's been speaking through pleasure, passion. He's been speaking through rejection, He's been speaking through restlessness. It wasn't that God wasn't speaking, is that the people had lost their ability to listen. And so God said to Samuel, before you can speak for me, I need you to learn to listen. This is what God wants to fine tune in our lives over the next few weeks.
This is what God wants to do.
In your heart over the next few weeks, because honestly, some of you are still running to Eli when it's really God. Some of you are running trying to find something out there when God is trying.
To speak to you in your place.
That's what got me this time, because I didn't preach that last night, But when I was speaking to you, God was speaking to me, and I try to listen, and he said, tell him stay in your place. Samuel didn't wake up that morning looking for a calling.
And maybe that's the problem with.
Us, Maybe that we've made this thing about calling and what God has for my life. What if what God has called you to first and foremost is himself, wouldn't that set you free? That the will of God is not which job the will of God is not which school you put your kids in.
My God.
I was talking to Buck the other day. One thing I love about Monk's Corner better than Charlotte.
There was two schools you could go to. There was just two.
It was the public one and the one that everybody that smoked weed at the public one.
Got sent to the Christian school. But listen to me. We've made the will of God a resource. It's not a resource, it's a relationship. It's a relationship. It's a relationship.
So I want us to go through this next several weeks not looking for clarity, certainty, but confidence to know that if I will make myself available to this calling in this moment, his speak, he will speak. Question is will you respond. What I've learned to do now is not necessarily say this is God or this isn't God. I got this new thing. It may be God.
I don't know.
The only way for me to find out. The only way I can experience the breakthrough is in the blue. So speak Lord, I'm listening.
