Hear the Call, Die and Live!

Hear the Call, Die and Live!                                     By Kelly Durant  9-21-14

Colossians 3:24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

2. Evil men with evil religions or ideologies always want you to die for their cause! But is it worth it? Here is a shocking story in Napoleon’s Army. Everyone admires extreme devotion, and loyalty to country has its place but always ask yourself, who am I serving and for what reason, is it for good pleasing Jesus or is it for an evil cause? There was a little bridge that the wooden posts were falling down on and some men had to get in the icy water and hold the posts up so the men and horses could cross. When then last person crossed the men were called to come up from the river but they did not come out of the water. They were permanently frozen to the posts, as one piece they were an ice mass frozen under the icy bridge! This extreme devotion made Napoleon shed tears! Today we know that these men died for a egomaniac dictator that lost all in the end! How sad we never learn from history! Today many young men continue to kill and die for evil regimes. How sad it is so many are deceived to believe they must kill and accept being killed for someone’s sadistic agenda!

There are so many war stories about people who killed others and then also died for their country. Those on the right side destroying evil are true heroes. However, what about all the martyrs of God who did not kill others but rather laid down their lives for Jesus? What about all those who died for Christ? We don’t praise them enough! Name 2 martyrs, can you?  Millions have died for Jesus but few of us remember and praise them! All of those that died in the faith inspire us, convict us, and in a certain way make us ashamed that we are not as heroic and brave as them! God called them to that!

Like it or not, dying is a part of our reality, a part of our human condition, a part of our fallen world and we all will die sooner or later of natural causes or for a cause. In this life, some get to age and live long, while others die young. The death of someone always makes us feel pain and the best thing that can take away that pain is to know that they lived in love and holiness and had eternal life in Jesus!

3. Paul, who was martyred wrote, 1 Corinthians 15:55 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” How do we explain this, Christians usually die praising Jesus! They know their reward is in heaven!  But their suffering and the suffering of Jesus on the cross is a testimony to how evil Satan and his people are in this cruel world! Hell is not hot enough for some horrible ones to get paid back for their evil!  

Many people, like as were in Hitler’s army, loved to kill and love to see others suffer from torture! They will pay for their deeds. But here is our consolation; we will not share heaven with those who are murderers! 1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Those that die having Jesus have eternal life and we will reign with Jesus forever and ever! But those that kill for whatever reason and even in the name of God, do not know God and their God would be Satan.  John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

4. Right now you may be asking yourself, I thought the sermon today was going to be about the calling of God, a Candidates Sunday to answer if God is calling you to the ministry. Well, the connection is, getting called to the ministry is an invitation to come and die and live for Jesus! The first step to answering the call of God, whether for salvation, or for full time service is to recognize that your person inside, your ego, your being, must die and then be reborn in Christ.

Jesus himself associated his calling, and His salvation, with death; death to yourself, death to your dreams in life, death to your idea of what you want in life, death to your pride and intelligence, death to everything! You have to let it all go! The fact is we are called to kill our pride, rebelliousness, and forsake all that we have for the greater cause of our own salvation and the Kingdom of God! If we are later called to die as a martyr, as Paul, and millions have been, then we lose nothing here because we have already lost it just by living submitted, and we gain eternal life with rewards in heaven.

Consider these verses: John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Luke 9:23, 24 23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

5. God is always calling out to everyone to be saved and to serve Him! In the Salvation Army the argument of one answering to the call of God is like this, ‘I have not heard the call, I have not heard God call me to the ministry!’ The reply to this is, “You have not heard the call? Then what is wrong with your hearing?” The call is always there for everyone! The problem with too many people is that they do not want to hear it because they know it implies a total life change, a death to self! People live unhappy, but still want to hang onto their old miserable self, how insane!

Here is a deep reality, no one can escape the calling of God and live well if they reject it! John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. Jesus choses everyone, but as in a volunteer army, only the willing ones answer the call.

How many of us have known someone with the calling of God on their lives, and they tried to deny it and run from it? Then later we observe that in life no matter what they do with their time, be it to study, make money, or have a family, this marked person finds that nothing ever satisfies them! That’s the way life is! I had an experience similar to this as I thought I would finish 4 years of college, but I could not even sleep at nights thinking about how souls were lost and I needed to tell them about Jesus immediately! I felt guilt that I was saved, and others were not! It was God’s design and Holy Spirit in me for me to just go to the mission field. What did it matter it was my first year in college! I am not suggesting what you should do, each person has a different calling, but when everything seems empty and worthless as it did with me, maybe God is allowing it to make you uncomfortable in your comfortableness so you answer His call.  

6. When you are dissatisfied with your life, it is time for a change! I chose to serve God with a small Independent church that offered me no benefits, just a mission home to land at in Brazil to work with the poor and part of the mission included evangelizing on the streets with tracts.  Back in the 70s it seems everyone gave out tracts and many people accepted Jesus by this evangelism method. I prayed with many while out in the streets. It was a method that worked for its time period. I had a lot of fun actually meeting all kinds of friendly people daily, but of course every other day I would meet a devil too that would curse at me and tear up the tract! It’s amazing how just reminding some people of Jesus causes them to get red in the face and murderously angry! Serving Jesus means getting mocked as He was! I bit my tongue and died to my pride!

So how did I de-stress from Satan’s attacks while living right obeying God? I memorized scripture like the beatitudes…(Matt. 5) ”Blessed are you when you are persecuted…for great is your reward in heaven”…and I also sang and repeated verses from hymns like Martin Luther’s famous hymn of a “A mighty fortress is our God”. I love this hymn. Listen to this…

Vs 3 And though this world with devils filled, should threaten to undo us.

We will not fear for God has willed, His truth to triumph through us.

 Vs 4 Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also.

The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever!

From my own experience, after reading the Bible for myself in college, after many Bible studies and getting offered the mission to die to myself, to leave my country, to serve Jesus, and after “hearing” the call, I knew I had to leave and obey God or I was going to die thousands of deaths daily for not doing what I knew God wanted me to do! I treasure all those first days of serving God when I was younger, and now that is almost 40 years away in my past. But still I am the changed person I became then, I am still in love with life, in love with Jesus, in love with the work of God and in love with all my Christian brothers and sisters! Yes, with you and you!

7. Who watches the “America’s Got Talent” show? When someone sings half-hearted, what happens? They do nothing for no one, they do not move the audience or the judges, but when someone gives it all their heart, what happens? Everyone gets touched and inspired! It is the same with our walk with God! We are not called to just give out a piece of bread to the hungry, we are called to put butter on it, and let people know they are loved, and by that example, they will get the message that God loves them too! But giving your all means dying to your pride and to yourself! It means doing embarrassing things; it means serving without being told a thank you, it means just doing it for God nothing more!

God calls all kinds of people but He needs extreme followers to change the world, He needs leaders, but He wants people willing to die to their selves so they can be alive with the Spirit of God in them! God needs people who will go the extra mile and love until it hurts! He wants you and me to die to ourselves and follow and obey Him in the mission He has for me and you!

Always God needs you and me now, today! John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. His work is always there, but not enough people are doing it!

8. Many Christians will always think, I am not called, and I have no talents or ability.  They may explain why they are not called to the mission field; their assessment may be true, not everyone has the calling to learn a new language and culture. Others often argue, I am not called to the full time ministry, to be an Officer or pastor, and this may also be true, but only you and God know if it is as you say it is. But there is a universal truth: everyone is called to obey Jesus and serve Him in some way! If Jesus of a truth is in you, you will have a calling of some kind! No matter what you agree to do for God, remember it will cost you, you will need to die to yourself in some way.

A good analogy of God’s callings is in our church example, we are like an Army! Some are called to the front lines and they are praised as the heroes, but they could not do their job without the cooks, the drivers, and the supporters behind them. Everyone is needed!

Everyone is needed in the church because the church is an organized battalion making war on evil with the mission to save souls! We cannot afford to have people who say they will do something and then at the last minute fail the church being busy with something else! This causes us to lose battles and get stuck instead of marching forward! Everyone is called to be an extreme Christian but each person has to “hear” God speak to them to know their place of service.  Like it or not, no one can claim to be a Christian while not obeying the command to love God and their neighbor and preach the gospel to every creature; and this requires a dying sacrifice meaning you and I must ‘Do something!’

9. The real issue and important question we must ask ourselves today is: Am I hearing and obeying the calling God has for me? You will never have peace with God until you answer the call He has for you! Another good question would be, am I being fair and just with my brothers and sister in the church, carrying my fair share of the ministry work load?

Everyone gives or hears excuses all the time, but excuses are only one’s vocal justifications; they do not mean they make it right. A lot needs to get done! A real calling means dying for Jesus! Matthew 4:19-20 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

The challenging reality is that Jesus calls everyone to live for Him and to die to ourselves serving Him. What a waste that in the world many youth will die young from a reckless lifestyle of serving their selfish selves with drugs and pleasures. What a waste many youth will dedicate their selves to a dictator that demands that they kill others, and then later they are killed for submitting to a lost cause.

10. We all must recall the end of it all; in the end each one of us will die. Wouldn’t you like to have the consolation to know that you served Jesus as He expected you to so that you gain rewards in heaven? Colossians 3:24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.  Remember our rewards are in heaven! Matthew 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

It is not hard to die to yourself for Jesus if you have a real faith to know He will help you and be there for you for the whole journey! It is like trading an old ugly car for a nice expense new one. Matthew 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Matthew 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

I traded my empty life and dreams to do Jesus work and I have never regretted it! What is God calling you to do? Maybe He is convicting you to do more for our Corps, or more for Him, speaking up for Him! Be willing to die for Him, He already died for you! If you feel you want to be a candidate for full time service, today is the day to say yes!