What Should I Do For Jesus？ — Sam Caldwell

The Call to Serve Jesus Through Spiritual Gifts

Our sermon title for today will be What Should I Do for Jesus? What Should I Do for Jesus? Let's read Psalm 110, just the first three verses. I was getting ready to preach on the whole psalm today, but I was just arrested and thought, no, we have to talk about how each one of us will step into ministry in this church and how each one of us can exercise our spiritual gifts.

So let's read Psalm 110, a psalm of David. In the midst of thine enemies, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning thou hast the due of thy youth.

Amen. Isn't that beautiful? Beautiful. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I simply ask that you be honored, Lord, that you be magnified, that you rise higher in each one of our hearts today through this sermon, Lord.

We're going to look at four texts, Lord, and each of these texts speak in harmony, and each of them, Lord, are about the good works that you have preordained for us to do, Lord. The good works, the ministries that you have prepared for us to walk in from before you even created this world, Lord.

You had specific things for each one in this church to do, and I just praise you for it, Lord. You've melted my heart and you've sent me this message straight from your heart to mine. I ask, Lord, that you would enable me to get this message out from your word to the heart of these precious saints today.

Lord, give me your power. Get me out of the way, please. Hide me behind your cross, Lord. Let us only see Jesus. Let us only think Jesus today, Lord. Let us have the mind of Christ today. Let your people be willing in the day of your power.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So I had sent you all out that message and I called it All Hands on Deck. All Hands on Deck. And the goal in saying that is that we are here in this hour to advance the kingdom.

And I've had some other messages in the past, right, where we have this rah-rah and I'm trying to encourage everyone to do something, but we have to talk about it again because our church is at a critical juncture and we might be merging with this other church, DCC, by the end of the year.

I believe more and more by the day that that is going to happen, but there are some hurdles and some spiritual battles that we have to fight to get there. But my biggest concern is that as we go to merge, we are all alive.

We are all on fire. We are all walking in the ministries that the Lord has given us. So I'm talking about that, advancing the kingdom, our church coming alive. And let's think today about calling. Let's think about our church's calling and then about each one of our individual callings.

This is what I believe our church's calling is, and it's getting sort of solidified. It's getting clarified as we go on every week. It's simply this, to win Portland for Christ. Amen? To win Portland for Christ.

And in the midst of that, we love each other. In the midst of that, we all want to grow, and we have new families growing, and we have new friendships and relationships growing. But ultimately, we want to see more.

We want to be wise and win souls. We want to win this entire city for Christ, no? And we can look around the room and see just a few people, and we can say there's really no way that that vision is going to come true, that we're going to win the whole 600, what is it, 66 ,000 people of Portland for Christ?

That's just Portland, 66 ,000. But I don't want us to lose that vision. I do not want us to lose that vision. Let's not get so narrow-minded that we lose that. Let's keep hoping for that. Let's keep having faith for that, that we would see this whole city streaming into the kingdom of God.

Amen? That's our church's calling. Now I want to ask you, what is your calling in this church? And this is how Rich Mullins defined calling, and I found it so very helpful. Sorry, sister, I can't see you.

I'm looking by the... No, just don't worry about it. I just like looking at everybody as I preach. You're fine. It's this thing's fault. Rich Mullins defined calling in this way. He said, your calling is where your ability and the church's needs meet.

Isn't that beautiful? Where your ability and the church's needs meet. Just think about that. Do you have an ability to take out the trash? You could say yes. Does the church need someone to take out the trash?

Yes. Then you've got a calling, right? That's how we do it. What is your ability and what's the church's need? And so that's what we're talking about today, and I want to give you four helps to discern what you should do for Jesus.

Willingness as the First Step in Christian Service

This is going to be pretty simple and pretty quick, so we're going to look at four different scriptures to help you discern what your calling is in this church and what you should do for Jesus. First scripture is right here, verse 3 of Psalm 110, and I'm going to give four points.

The first point is this. We must be willing to do something. Each one of us must be willing to do something, and I'm getting that point from verse 3. Look at this. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.

In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, thou hast the due of thy youth. First point is very simple. We must be willing to do something. David, right here in verse 3, he's picturing the Father speaking to the Son of God, and the Father is saying to Christ, your people will be willing in the day of your power.

Literally in the Hebrew, it's saying your people will be a free will offering in the day of your power. So he's taking that image. You all know that back in Leviticus of the free will offering, and he's saying your people in this church age, in the day of your power, your people are going to be like those free will offerings, which means they're going to give more than is expected of them.

They're going to be volunteers. They're going to just be, I think the King James translation is perfect, they're going to be willing, right? So Christ's people that the Father is giving to him, they are just naturally, because they've been born again, willing.

So let me ask you that. That's our first point. Are you willing? Or is there a resistance in you where you say, I don't want to do anything for Jesus? Or you say, I've got too much with just my family duties and my work duties.

But here we're talking about doing something in the kingdom of God. And let me clarify that before I go on. Think of these three spheres in your life. Every one of us has something to do at home, something to do in the workplace, and then something to do in the church.

And I know that in certain seasons of our life, we could say, I'm really busy at home or I'm really busy at work. But we should never let that become an excuse so that we don't do anything in church. Amen?

Now it might be in a certain season of life we're so busy with the other two things that we can just do a little bit at church. Maybe just sending some texts, maybe just taking out the trash, maybe just sending a note of encouragement to someone or helping with something online.

But all of us have to keep up that willingness in the kingdom. You see what I'm talking about? Okay, so this is our first point. We must be willing simply to do something. And again, literally in the text here, it's, thy people shall be a free will offering.

Your people shall be volunteers. You know, in one way, I shouldn't even have to ask anyone in this church to do anything. This text is saying your people are willing, right? If we're truly born again, then we're searching for ways that we can serve the Lord.

We're looking for ways that we can be volunteers in his kingdom. I love that. I love this verse so much. Let's just look at it a little bit more. Thy people shall be willing when? In the day of thy power.

When's the day of God's power? It's right now. It's as Christ has come. He shed his blood for us. He's been resurrected for us. He's ascended into heaven. And verse one is true of him. He's sitting at the right hand of the father until he makes all of his enemies a footstool.

And then verse three, in the day of thy power. This is the day of his power. Don't be looking for some future day of God's power. Okay, brothers and sisters, don't be looking for some future millennium, some future time.

This is the day of his power right now. Don't be looking for, let's say, five years down the road when you've got all of your ducks in a row. This is the day of his power right now. This is the time when we must be willing.

Then what does he say? In the beauties of holiness. Each one of us willing people, we're clothed in Christ's holiness. And then it says, from the womb of the morning. That means that we have a newness to our lives.

And finally, thou hast the dew of thy youth. There's a freshness and a newness in each one of us. We ought to be willing. We ought to be looking to give that freshness back to Christ. So that's my first point.

We must be willing to do something. I just wanted to show you all this this beautiful little book that I've been reading. It's sort of brown and it's falling apart, but it's about John Sung, who was a Chinese evangelist in the early 1900s.

This verse right here was big for John Sung. And he, I was trying to count, but he had something like 10 crisis moments in his life. If you all pick up this book, it's just, it's like every chapter he's having a new crisis.

Okay. And the crisis was always this. He would basically ask himself, am I willing? I know Christ has done something for me. I know it was even really huge, right? He shed his blood. He busted open the grave.

He ascended into heaven. He did these huge things. And then John Sung would have a crisis and say, then what am I doing? What am I doing to pay him back? And let me just read you about one crisis moment of his.

The author said, but as John Sung thought of the Lord going all the way to the cross, he seemed to hear the Lord say, can you not obey me to the full? Can not you surrender your all to me? I know all about your cares.

Remember that after the shame and the pain of the cross, there comes the glory of the resurrection. Be patient a while longer and all will be well. Isn't that beautiful? But I encourage us not to go crazy with crisis moments in our life necessarily, but to think of what John Sung thought of because that just energized his whole life.

He thought, thy people shall be willing. Lord, you did this for me. Am I willing? Am I willing? There's our first point. You got to be willing to do something. Are you Christian? Second point. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter two and verse 10.

Following God's Predestined Good Works

Ephesians chapter two and verse 10. Again, what are we talking about? We're talking about what should I do for Jesus? What should I do for Jesus? How do we discern what we should do for Jesus? Let's look at Ephesians chapter two.

We'll read verses eight, nine, and 10. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So did you all get the gospel correct there?

I think everyone in this room has a correct gospel. We're not saved by our works, are we? We're saved by grace. It is the gift of God. Verse nine, not of works, lest any man should boast. But then he tells us about our good works.

Verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works for good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Beautiful. Our first point was we must be willing to do something.

And the second thing, as you come to discern what works you should do for God is this. Follow the mysteries of providence in your life. Listen to me, Christians. Follow the mysteries of providence in your life.

What this verse, verse 10, is saying is that our good works were actually predestined. Can you believe that? Have you thought about that? The ministries you're going to do in this church, the good works you're going to walk in, they were predestined by God before the world was created.

Does that not just start to make your mind say, wow, a little bit? It ought to cause us a great amount of mystery to come into our minds, right? So think about it like this. First, we ought to look back on anything we've done for the Lord.

And we ought to say, whoa, that was predestined, okay? Art, three weeks ago, right, we went to the community dinner downstairs. And I'm not puffing us up for doing that at all, right? But we went to the community dinner and we helped out, right?

We did that. Now we can look back and say, whoa, before the world was created, God predestined that Art and Sam would go to that community dinner together. Can you believe that? Isn't that incredible?

It's absolutely amazing. So the first thing I want you all to do with verse 10 here is look back in your life and everything you've done, every bit of ministry you've done, you have to say, God, He foreordained that I would do that.

And here's the second part. Look forward. Realize that you were predestined to do all the good works of your future. So next month, you're called to do something for the Lord. In the coming year, as we might merge with that church, we're called to do something for the Lord.

And then we should simply say, God, reveal to me what you predestined for me to do. Isn't that a beautiful prayer? Lord, I know there's something it says right here. I'm your workmanship. I'm created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works.

And you have ordained it that I should walk in it. So now knowing that having my mind and my heart filled with that mystery, I just pray, Lord, show me what it is for next month. Show me what it is for the month after that.

Open up these things that you have predestined. Amen. So our first point was we must be willing to do something. Secondly, we must follow the mysteries of providence and step into the good works that God has already ordained for us.

Discerning God-Given Desires for Ministry

Third point, turn to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2 verses 9 and 10. Galatians 2 verses 9 and 10. Our third help in discerning what we should do for Jesus is this. And this is going to sound so simple to you all.

What do you desire? Ask simply what desires God has put in your heart. So when we go to talk about ministries in the church today, simply ask this question. What desires do you have? What desires has God put in your heart?

Let's look at verses 9 and 10. This is Paul talking about his ministry and how he discerned what he should do. He says, verse 9,. And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me in Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

Only they would that we would remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to do. Think about verse 10 for a second here. What Paul's saying right there is he's getting his commissioning. He's figuring out what to do, what ministry to walk in.

And then they tell him, you should remember the poor. And then what does he say? The same thing which I was forward to do. It's literally, that's exactly what I was eager to do. Isn't that a beautiful thought?

So they all say, hey, someone has to take care of the poor. And Paul says, I was already eager to do that. So my third point for you is really simple. When we want to discern what we're doing in this church, what we're doing in our ministries, we should simply ask, what do you want to do?

What desires has God put in your heart? I just love how Paul says that. They told me to remember the poor, and I was eager to do that already. So today I might pass out this sheet and we say, I'm telling you to do something.

I'm saying there's a need in the church and you say, my desires are already there. I was already eager to do that. Isn't that a beautiful test? Just what do you want to do, right? And here's one more thing to think about on this third point, okay?

When you all were saved, what were those first desires that God put in your heart? That's something to go back home and think about. Think about those early days. You had just met Jesus. And I know that in those moments, God put some desires on your heart.

If I think back to it, when I was in Toronto, I didn't want to do ministry. I didn't think of preaching. I didn't think of music at all. I thought about giving clothes to people and giving food to people.

It was like right when I was saved, those desires came into my heart. So you all with me? Think of those first desires that God put in your heart when you were saved. And then think about this. If we ignore those desires and we go on for years and years not doing them, then we could actually be grieving the spirit, couldn't we?

So take verse 10 and bring that home with you and simply ask this question, what do you want to do? Paul says, they wanted me to remember the poor. My desires were already in line with that. So I stepped in line and I remembered the poor.

In many ways, Christian ministry is that simple. Fourth and final point, turn to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 and we'll look at verses 14 through 18. And my fourth point for you is this.

Creativity and the Spirit's Gifts in the New Covenant

Be creative. Be creative. Let's read Acts chapter 2 verses 14 through 18. This is Pentecost. But Peter standing up with the 11 lifted up his voice and said unto them, ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken to my words.

For these are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.

And on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy. Amen. That's beautiful. That is the inauguration of the church of God. That's the day of Pentecost right there.

That's Peter standing up and preaching. And he's saying, remember that prophet Joel. This is that he talked about the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh. This is that. And what I want you all to notice right here is that he says everyone in this new covenant, everyone in this church, everyone is going to be active.

Look at it. Verse 17. He says it shall come to pass in the last days. And these are the last days, are they not? The last days were inaugurated right then when Jesus ascended into heaven. In the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh.

And then look, how many people in the church are involved in this pouring out of the spirit? Your sons, your daughters, your young men, your old men. Verse 18, my servants, my handmaidens. This is a way that Joel is trying to tell us everybody in the church is mobilized.

Everybody in the church is doing something. Everybody is working. And my final point for you here is be creative. What are all these people doing in these two verses? Look again at verse 17. Your sons and your daughters, they're going to prophesy.

Your young men shall see visions. Your old men dreaming dreams. On my servants and my handmaidens, they will prophesy. So what's everybody doing? Everybody is functioning in the gift that God's giving to them.

I just love this picture. They're prophesying. They're seeing visions. They're dreaming dreams. They're prophesying. We might disagree about little ways of interpreting that, might we? But we should all agree that everybody in the new covenant church is active.

Everybody is mobilized. And everybody, I hope you don't think I'm using a trite term here. Everybody is creative. People are prophesying. People are seeing things. People are dreaming dreams. And that's really my wish for us, that we would be creative.

David Wilkerson. Have you all heard about how he started the church in Times Square? He was simply going for a walk in Times Square one day. Walking through that busiest intersection in all of the world.

And God stopped him right there. Stopped him dead in his tracks. And he, I believe, began to see visions. And he began to see that a church needed to be right in that square. Right in the middle of New York City.

But he was being creative. Do you all see that? And he was allowing God to give him something. I firmly believe that God has to lead us into specific visions of how we're going to take this city. And that might not be happening right now in this church.

But it needs to be happening. That's why I'm giving us this final point. Be creative. It might be that you need to spend time in the prayer closet. And we need to be asking the Lord. Okay, Lord, we passed out 500 tracks, right?

In this neighborhood. Right here. And we're not seeing anyone come in yet. So Lord, what's the vision? Why isn't that working? What's the dream we should be dreaming? How should we be prophesying? How should we be preaching out there?

You see what I'm saying? We want to open up those creative powers that we have. So that we're walking in exactly what the Lord wants us to walk in. So let me end just by giving you all these four points one more time.

Four Helps for Discerning a Ministry Calling

I want you all to discern what ministry you should walk in in this church. And here are the four helps to discern that. What were they again? We must all be willing to do something, right? Second, follow the mysteries of providence.

Realize that our good works were ordained before this world. Third, ask what desires God has put in your hearts. Simply say, what do I want to do in God's kingdom? And fourth, be creative. Be creative.

Let the Lord make us creative. Let him give us the visions that we need to advance the kingdom in Portland, Maine. Praise God. Hallelujah. Amen.