Thank God for the Call of Jesus (North OC)

Marcel: 00:00:01

Good morning, brothers and sisters.

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I said good morning, brothers and sisters.

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All right.

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My name is Marcel Hall.

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I want to welcome you to the O.

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C.

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Church of Christ.

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This is our North O.

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C.

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ministry.

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And today is a special day.

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As most of you know, we have our

Christmas kids program today.

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And we're all excited about that.

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And many of the parents are

also nervous about that as well.

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So, Praying and hoping that they,

uh, they do their job there.

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And so my name is Marcel Hall and

with my wife Corina, we are the

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honor and privilege of being able

to be ministers here for the church.

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And, uh, we're going to, uh, uh,

get into the word of God right now.

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And so.

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This is what we call a Sermunion, in

which we, uh, have an extended time in

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which we will, uh, for our Communion.

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Communion is where we remember Jesus

death upon the cross for our salvation.

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And then, after that, we will

have, uh, our Offering, and then

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we will have our Kids Program.

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And so again, I want to thank all of

those who are visiting here with us today,

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whether it's your first time or you've

been visiting, we're so grateful to have

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you here with us, we hope and pray that

you will feel like you're part of the

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family that we have here in the church.

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Um, we started a series several weeks ago,

several weeks ago, called Thank God For.

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And, uh, we talked about thanking

God for, uh, uh, God's Word,

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for His Spirit, for the church.

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And then as we hit Christmastime, we

switched our focus to Jesus, as this is

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the time in which we want to remember

and celebrate the birth of Jesus.

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And so, we have talked about thanking

God for the life of Jesus, and

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last week we talked about thanking

God for the sacrifice of Jesus.

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And today, we're going to be talking

about thanking God for the call.

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Let's go ahead and let's

go to God in prayer.

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Father, thank you so much for

the chance to worship you, for

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the chance to encourage and

strengthen one another in the faith.

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God, you are worthy of our praise.

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You are worthy of our thanksgiving.

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You are worthy of our devotion.

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And I pray, God, that as we get

into your word today that you will

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remind us of the blessings that we

have In the name of Jesus, amen.

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Alright, and so we looked at, again, the

idea of thank God for the life of Jesus.

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And the life of Jesus, it's

inspiring because Jesus life

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serves as the model for imitation.

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And then last week, we thanked

God for the sacrifice of Jesus

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because that leads to our salvation.

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And so that motivates, that

compels us to live a faithful life.

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And as we think about the invitation

of Jesus, this call that Jesus has, it

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allows us to see that this is a part of,

this is something that is of great value,

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but it's a high calling for our lives.

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And when I think of calls, some

movies came to mind and some ideas.

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And the first off is Luke Skywalker.

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He's called to be a Jedi.

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See, we got a Luke Skywalker fan.

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She's fired up over here.

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And so Luke Skywalker's called

to be, I guess, the chosen one.

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I don't want to get into semantics with,

oh, is that really, oh, you know, Anakin.

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I'm not going to go there with you, okay?

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But we know Luke Skywalker's

called to be a Jedi and also

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help take down the evil empire.

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And then, uh, some of you, I

know you're thinking of Frodo

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and the Lord of the Rings.

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And so Frodo, he decides, you know what,

I'll answer that call to go ahead and

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take the ring and have it destroyed.

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Uh, many of us also think of Neo.

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And the red pill and the blue pill,

you guys with me there, right?

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And so, Neal's called to figure

out what's really the matrix.

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And let's go ahead and let's destroy

the evil powers that made the matrix.

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And then we also have Moana and her call.

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She's called by the ocean, right?

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She's called, and I know

the new movie's out.

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Haven't seen it yet, but we

plan on seeing that as a family.

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And I think of these calls, but yet when

I think about the call of Jesus, Jesus

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call trumps all of these and then some.

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Because it's a call to something greater.

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It's a call to something that is divine.

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And in fact, I believe this call

is a call to a divine purpose.

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The call of Jesus is not to

just an adventure, not to just

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a certain lifestyle, but it's

a call to a divine purpose.

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So let's go ahead, we're going to

read two passages here, and understand

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this call to a divine purpose.

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Church, are you with me?

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Let's go ahead.

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Matthew chapter 28.

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Many of us in our church were

very familiar with this passage.

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Let's read it.

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This is after Jesus had

died, he had resurrected.

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Now he's about to ascend.

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So now he's giving his followers

a call and direction for their

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lives and for the church.

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And it says, then Jesus came to them

and said, all authority in heaven

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and on earth has been given to me.

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Therefore, go and make

disciples of all nations.

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He says go and make disciples of all

nations, disciple meaning follower,

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student, but really that context,

especially in that time, meant

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to be one who would imitate them.

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The rabbi or the teacher.

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So it was a call for imitation.

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It wasn't just to study out and agree with

some, some doctrine or some teachings.

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It was to become a follower in the

sense that you imitated your leader,

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and he says this, I want you to

go make disciples of all nations.

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Now think about this for a second.

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The son of God has called

people to be his disciple.

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A mini me version of Jesus.

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Now when you think about

that, that's incredible.

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Because let's say you were a, someone who

was trying to be successful financially,

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and Warren Buffet or Elon Musk said,

Hey, I'd love for you to be my disciple.

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That would be an honor, wouldn't it?

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You'd be fired up.

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Let me learn some things then.

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Or let's say it was music and Taylor

Swift or, you know, I don't know, Elton

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John or Prince or somebody, right?

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Said, I want you to be my disciple.

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You'd be fired up about that.

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I know my daughter would be

fired up about Taylor Swift.

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If it's sports or Tom

Brady or, uh, LeBron James.

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No, let's scratch that.

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Michael Jordan.

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Said, I want you to be my disciple.

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And if you're into

sports, you would be what?

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You would be honored.

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You would be, Whoa, I can't

get a better teacher than this.

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You would be incredible.

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Now, let's think about this.

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The Son of God calls

you to be His disciple.

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To be not just a student, not

just a learner, but an imitator

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of who He is and how He lives.

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And this call isn't just for a few.

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No, the Lord, the creator, the author of

life, calls everyone to be his disciple.

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It says he wants all nations.

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That means you, me, your

mama, and your cousin too.

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In fact, tell your neighbor to

your right and left, the call is

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for your mama and your cousin too.

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You see, this call is not

just for a few, it's for all.

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To be what?

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To be disciples of Jesus.

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So this call is for you

today and going forward.

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And so we also look in

Ephesians chapter 2.

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This is a letter written to the church

that met in the city of Ephesus by

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a guy named Paul, who Paul was a

leader in the first century church.

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And he says here, after talking about

the riches that we have in and through

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Christ, he goes on and he says this.

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For it is by grace you have been saved,

hallelujah for that, through faith.

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And this gift, this is not from

yourselves, it is the gift of God, not

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by works, so that no one can boast.

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For we are God's handiwork, created in

Christ Jesus to do good works, which

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God prepared in advance for us to do.

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You see, Jesus says in the Scriptures

revealed that after salvation, through

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his sacrifice, what Jesus calls you and

me to is to now live a life of good works.

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As disciples of his, we will engage

and live a life of good works.

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And these aren't just any works.

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This isn't, can you take out the trash?

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Can you wash some dishes?

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These are God ordained works.

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These are divine works of

good that are designed to be a

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blessing to those around you.

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That are designed to be great

contributions to society.

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This is the call of Jesus.

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Again, this call is a call of

something greater for our lives.

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It's a call to a divine purpose.

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For And I believe it's a call

to be divine agents of God.

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Divine agents of God.

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Meaning that we are called to

become like the divine, and then to

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engage and join in divine good work.

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And so we get a chance to work and

be worked in and through the divine.

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So that good works can take place and then

also we will become like the divine You

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know when we follow Jesus call we become

a person of divine virtue and character

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Because when you start following Jesus

his lifestyle his teachings Guess what

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happens to your character and your nature?

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You become like the one you

are following My son, the other

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day, I looked on, uh, uh, on our

phone, and my son had this video.

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I actually, I should have

showed you the video.

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And he had this video, and to

my surprise, I hadn't seen it.

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I don't know if Karina had already saw it.

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But I'm showing Karina the video, and my

son, he's doing like he is an influencer,

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and he's doing like his own version

of, uh, uh, uh, of, uh, uh, some type

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of, uh, uh, uh, promotion, if you will.

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And so he's talking, and he's

just going on, and he starts

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trying to do some rap lyrics.

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My son's really big into rap music, and

we, we play, you know, Christian rap music

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all the time, and so he's really into it.

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He's like, Papa, he has his own list.

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It's called the Dominique

playlist on Spotify.

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And so he takes all these songs,

like, Papa, I almost caught you.

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You know, I'm almost there.

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I'm like, no, you got about 2,

000 more songs to get to me.

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But he goes, and he's doing this

thing, and he's like, yeah, and

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he goes on for several minutes.

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It's the funniest, coolest,

cutest thing in the world.

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And Karina's like, that's you.

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And I'm like, you're right.

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Cause I'll randomly at the house and

somebody says something, a rap lyric will

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come to my mind and I'll start going off

on the rap verse for a couple of seconds.

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Or I'll just randomly start saying stuff.

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And so when my son started doing

this, guess who he was being like?

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He didn't even realize he was being like

me, but he was being like his father.

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And when you and I do good works,

guess who we're being like?

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We're being like Jesus.

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You see, when we embark and when

we embrace and when we fulfill

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this divine calling, we start doing

good works and we start looking and

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imitating the divine Son of God.

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We look and resemble Jesus.

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We become a blessing to those around us.

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You know, we all want to be good.

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But when we follow the

call of Jesus, guess what?

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We start doing good things and we become

good because we become good like Him.

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We become people of upstanding character.

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We're a blessing to people

and to the places that we go.

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There's no guilt, no shame,

and we're not full of regrets.

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We're not perfect, but we're

being perfected for God's glory.

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When we follow this call of Jesus.

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We also, as we can see, we help people.

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Like Jesus, He served and

met needs practically.

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He healed, He provided food, He provided

hope and encouragement and help.

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And He called His

followers to do the same.

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And so when we follow the call to be

divine agents of God, we do good and

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we practically serve and bless people.

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So grateful for our church and

the good work that we do through

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our Hope Saturday Academy.

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And which is the mentoring program

for at risk youth in Santa Ana.

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And so that's just one of the

things and every time I go I'm

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like, wow, this feels so good.

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Because we're engaging

in divine good work.

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And so we help one another in the church.

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We provide strength.

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I'm so grateful for all the advice

and help whether it's marriage

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or parenting that we receive.

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This is the recipient of people

being divine agents of good.

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And then we also help people.

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spiritually and help them not only

for the momentary, but for eternity.

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When we are divine agents of

good, we help people for eternity.

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They get a chance at eternal life,

not just a life for the moment that's

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good, and hallelujah, the life in

Christ on earth is awesome, but

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it's awesome now and it continues

to the afterlife when we transition.

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And so this call to good works, it's

an opportunity to join God in having

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an eternal impact upon this world.

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And so we can say, thank

God for the call of Jesus.

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And when I think about this, I think

about the incredible impact that the

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calling of Jesus can have on our lives.

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It can really change our

perspective on day to day life.

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Just think about this.

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When we realize, and when we hone in,

and we decide to pursue this call of

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Jesus, this divine call, this call

to a divine purpose, it changes your

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perspective about the day to day life.

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You approach things differently.

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Because you see that you have a bigger

purpose and mission in life than

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just the mundane and the routine.

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So you can approach the mundane and the

routine with a different perspective.

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A greater joy, a motivation, a sense

of purpose to the things you're doing.

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So you can go to that class.

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You can go to work with

a different attitude.

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With a different mindset that

will produce different results.

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And be a divine agent of good.

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Imagine the opportunities.

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If you pursue the call to a divine

purpose, imagine all the opportunities

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that present themselves to you if you

fulfill the call to a divine purpose.

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Think about this.

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How would it affect

your life going forward?

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How would it affect your

relationships in your family?

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Your roommates, your neighborhood.

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How would it affect

your current challenges?

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How would it affect your approach

to school or to work just this week?

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Now let me ask you this,

or let me call you to this.

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Imagine all the opportunities we may

lose by not pursuing the call of Jesus.

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So we have a choice.

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We have a red pill and a blue pill.

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We could decide not to follow

the call of Jesus and miss out

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on all those opportunities.

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Or we can decide to take that pill of

Christ's call and see and experience the

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treasures from pursuing the call of Jesus.

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And so I believe, as we think about all

these blessings, the potential treasures

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that are available for you and for me,

not only should we thank God for this

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call of Jesus, but I believe it calls

us to action in this regard, that we

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should pursue the calling of Jesus.

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Pursue the calling by deciding

and committing to live out the

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call to be a divine agent of God.

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And on some of us, we might not know

exactly what all that means, and I

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would encourage you, first off, to

discover what is the call of Jesus?

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Who was Jesus?

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What is all this about His

sacrifice and His birth?

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How does that apply to

me and my daily life?

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And I encourage you today to make a

decision to pursue by just getting

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help and going through the Scriptures.

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And setting up a Bible study today.

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And say, you know what, I

want to learn some more.

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About this whole call in Jesus' life.

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For others, we can pursue the calling

by rediscovering Jesus' call for our

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life by examining, doing assessment.

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Hey, those treasures that were

mentioned, am I experiencing that today?

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If not, why not?

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What is it?

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Am I making some choices that have

in me veer from the call of Jesus?

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Are there some things in my

life that are distracting me?

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from this call of Jesus and living it out.

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And be honest with that assessment.

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Not guilty or down, but be honest.

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If it's not the case, then seek help

from a brother or sister in Christ.

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Seek help to get back to pursuing.

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This call of Jesus and for some of us,

it's just recommitting to living out the

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call of Jesus in our day to day life, not

just on a Sunday, not just when we feel

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it, but when we don't feel it, when it's

just our lives that we take steps every

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day in that call of Jesus and for others.

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As we assess, we can go,

man, I'm experiencing it.

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This is awesome.

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Hallelujah.

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We'll continue to praise the

Father for the call of Jesus.

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Continue to thank and praise Him.

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But remember to continue in

pursuing by living it out.

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And in calling your friends and

neighbors to go along with you.

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And to call upon Jesus and to

live out this call of Jesus.

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Thank God for the life of Jesus.

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Thank God for the sacrifice of Jesus.

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And thank God for the call of Jesus.

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And as we have this Christmas season,

we want to thank God for the birth

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of Jesus that leads to all of this.

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And the opportunities that you and I have.

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It's humbling and honoring.

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To be called, to be a disciple of

Jesus, and to be a divine agent of good.

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Right now we're going to take communion.

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Again, this is where we celebrate.

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We remember, we reflect upon Jesus's

sacrifice for our opportunity to

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have salvation, to have eternal life,

and we take the bread and the juice

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representing his body and blood that

was It says, sacrifice for you and I,

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and as we do this, I want us to read

in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 4.

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Brothers and sisters, are

you still with me here?

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Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 4, we'll

read, it says, because of his great

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love for us, because of his great

love for you, God, who is rich in

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mercy, Made us alive with Christ even

when we were dead in transgressions.

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It is by grace.

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You have been saved and God raised us

up with Christ and seeded us with him

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in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

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In order that in the coming ages, he

might show the incomparable riches of

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his grace expressed in his kindness

to us, to you and me in Christ Jesus.

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For it is by grace you have

been saved through faith.

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This is not from yourselves.

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It is the gift of God.

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Not by works, so that no one can boast.

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For you and me, we are God's

handiwork, created in Christ

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Jesus to do good works, which God

prepared in advance for us to do.

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Let's pray.

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Father, thank you so much

for your scriptures and a

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divine call, a divine purpose.

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The opportunity to become like you

in our character and our nature.

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The opportunity to do your good

works and to imitate and emulate you.

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God, what an honor that is.

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I'm humbled and I'm grateful.

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And I know I'm unworthy, but for

some reason you deem us to be worthy.

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And you deem us not only worthy

to the call, but worthy to

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sacrifice your life for us.

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We are humbled, we are

grateful, and we are honored.

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In the name of Jesus, we

say hallelujah, praise you.

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All