18/05/2005 Pursuing the Call

18/05/2005
"Pursuing the Call"
Clayton Coombs
YA CLC Wednesday 7:30pm

Eph 4:1-6
Destiny refers to your destination.
But you reach your destination once! How you get there is just as important. We cannot just think about the destination and neglect the process.

Dreams - can come from God or your own psyche. But it usually occurs while you're asleep.
Visions - usually happens when you're awake.

Ps 37:4 - The more we focus on God, His desires become ours. His thoughts become ours.

God doesn't reveal the whole picture, but glimpses of the future, to give us hope. We need to trust God. He is more than capable to carry us through tough circumstances. He has a plan for us. Jer 29:11

The Calling

Matt 22:14 - "many were called, few are chosen" How will you respond?

The calling is to embrace unity. Here's how to foster the unity of the church:

1. Be realistic in your decision.

• Striving for the ideal without being real is immaturity; living the real without striving for the ideal is apathy. Maturity is living with a tension.

2. Choose to encourage rather than criticise. (Matt 7:1-9)
3. Refuse to gossip (Prov 20:19, 26:20)

• This is passing on information when you're neither part of the problem nor the solution.

4. Practice God's method for conflict resolution (Matt 18:15-17)

• Step 1: talk to the offender.
• Step 2: bring along a mediator. Note the objective is reconciliation, not to win a case. You could be the offender.
• Step 3: tell the church.

5. Honour the leaders (1 Tim 5:19)

• Uphold the leadership God has ordained.

What does the unity of the church have to do with the call?

• Matt 18:19-20 There is spiritual power in unity.
• "Church" in Greek is "ecclesias"
• "Ecc" means "out of"
• "Clesis" means "calling"

If the church is pursuing the call, we will begin to draw people towards God.