Article: RESPONDING FAITHFULLY TO GOD’S CALLING

RESPONDING FAITHFULLY TO GOD’S CALLING

Olaolu Karunwi

        Matthew 24:45-51, 25:14-30

• Do you believe you have been called and chosen by God to do what you are doing?
• An answer to this question will inform your commitment and attitude towards your service.
• Read the Passage above.
• Faithful service produces amazing rewards.
• God expects us to be faithful and diligent to the task He’s given us while we await His return.
• There will always be discouragement and challenges in discharging our duties but God must be our focus.
• It is an awesome privilege to contribute to the raising of the next generation in God’s Church.
• Are you serving as a faithful servant or hired hand?
• If we are unfaithful in our calling our children will not have a chance to know and serve God.
• We believe that children can become believers, grow spiritually and serve the church body, and therefore, we will have ministries designed to equip and facilitate this process.
• Children are important to us as a church, because children are important to God.

1. PUT YOUR TRUST IN GOD – 2 Chronicles 13:16-18

The people of Judah recorded a very huge victory against the Israelites because they put their trust in God.

As we lead our ministries, we will face diverse challenges and difficulties but our trust in God alone will grant us total victory and make all the difference.

The Israelites on so many occasions failed to recognize this fact and it brought disaster upon them.

Where do your trust and confidence come from? Intellect, Strength, Wisdom, achievements, Victories etc

Psalm 25:2-3, Psalm 37:3; 5-6, Prov.3:5, Isaiah 25:9.

2. REMEMBER THE PAST DEEDS OF GOD – 1 Peter 2:9-10

You must always remember the faithfulness and goodness of God in your life to respond faithfully to your calling. (Eni ba mo inu ro, a mo ope du).

How do you think your life would have been without the sacrifice of Jesus?

But for God’s grace your life would have been a disaster. We had no hope and direction but for Jesus.

Psalm 78:10-22

This was Israel’s problem. Israel had selective memory when it came to God’s works for them.

They conveniently forgot God’s miraculous deeds on their behalf, and so they forgot all that they owed him.

Charles Spurgeon commented on this verse, “Those who forget God’s works are sure to fail in their own.”

• Remembering God’s deeds is a wonderful incentive to continue trusting him, to commit all your ways to him, to look for his hand at work all around you. Remembering that God is a God of action and He will spur you on to good works as you allow God to work through you.
• The Israelites had a very short memory of the goodness of God in their lives and it negatively affected their relationship and walk with Him.
• They experienced God in a very special and unimaginable ways but unfaithfulness characterized their conducts.
• Are you like the Israelites in your own personal relationship with God?
• Are your personal experiences with God inspiring and motivating you to do more for Him?
• We need to learn from history so that it so that mistakes and failures recorded by our predecessors will not repeat itself in our lives.
• History is being made in our lives daily and we need to give conscious attention to this.

3. KEEP THE COMMANDS OF GOD – Deut. 30:11-20

• God is a generational God who is not just interested in you and me but our descendants.
• Obedience to God brings blessings and prosperity to God’s people and their descendants.
• God desired to be served and worshipped in every existing generation.
• Exodus 12:17-18, 24-28
• God wanted these experiences shared with the Israelites descendants so that they can serve Him and keep His commands and decrees.

Psalm 78:1-10.

• Who were these unfaithful forefathers? In the rest of the Psalm, Asaph specifically mentions two generations of forefathers who were marked by stubbornness and rebellion. One was the generation that perished in the wilderness. What was their problem? They forgot the wonderful works of God. Listen to what Psalm 78:40-43 says about them:
• “How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland! Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power — the day he redeemed them from the oppressor, the day he displayed his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan.” (Psalm 78:40-43)
• The other generation was the one that settled in the Promised Land following Joshua’s death. What was their problem? They failed to pass the torch on to the next generation. The book of Judges says this about them:
• “The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel … But after that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:7-10)
• Joshua’s generation failed to pass the torch. They neglected the spiritual nurture of their children. And so a whole generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.
• You see, we must understand that the church is always only one generation away from extinction.
• We have a sacred trust to pass on to our children — as families and as a church.
• We have everything we need for the task. We know the works of God. We have the word of God. We are empowered by the Spirit of God. We are motivated by the love of God. We have everything we need to raise our children in the faith.

CONCLUSION: Let me close with this. One of the saddest verses in Psalm 78 is verse 9: “The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle.” (Psalm 78:9) Wouldn’t it be great if each generation improved over the previous one? If each new generation loved God more, followed God more, praised God more? It’s possible — we are fully armed for the task. But too often, like the men of Ephraim in verse nine, we turn back on the day of battle. We get distracted from our task.

There is a battle going on for the spiritual lives of our children. Let us not turn our backs on them. Let us devote ourselves to teaching them the works and the word of God. Let us tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.

How will our generation be described?   There are two kinds of generations listed here.  The first generation is stubborn and rebellious.  Is our generation stubborn?  Unwilling to repent and change as Christ calls us to in His Word and through His church? Is our generation rebellious?  Do you submit joyfully to Christ, or do you hold back parts of your life from submission.  Have you died to yourself?  Are you taking up your cross daily?  Do you submit to the leaders that God has placed in authority over you?  Will our generation be remembered by those who follow as a stubborn and rebellious generation?

Or will you answer the call to be steadfast and faithful.  Is that how our generation will be remembered?  Those men and women were steadfast and faithful.