Getting In God's Order

God has a plan and a purpose for each of us. His plan and call for our life fits into is bigger plan. If we want to be successful in what God has called us to do, we need to know His overall plan and how we fit into it. We also need to know the "divine order" that God has established and how we are to cooperate with Him in it.

Many of us feel that prayer and intercession are a part of God's call on our lives. If God has called you to that, this is a good call. But you need to learn the overall plan, so that you can do what God is doing with Him, and so you do it His way. In light of that, I want to talk about things that will help you to discern and carry out God's call on your life, to help you understand what God has called you to, and understand how to be effective at it. God has established an order in which we are to function and minister. We need to understand His parameters so that we can function effectively within them. In short, we have to line up with God's principles and fit into His order. Then He will give us the power and authority we need to be highly effective in what He calls us to do. The goal of this teaching series is to look at the call of God for our overall life and ministry and how that fits into His bigger plan. And it will help us to line up with God's divine order so that we can fulfill His call on our lives.

We know God has a plan for each of His children, He didn't leave you out. He didn't have a plan for your friends and not for you. God has a plan for everybody. No matter who you are, God has a plan for you. Look at Jeremiah 29:11, which says, " 'I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord. 'It is plans for prosperity and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.' "

God has a plan for you and He desperately wants you to know that plan. The question is, do you want to know that plan? For some reason, some people don't want to know His plan for them. Perhaps they assume that if they don't know God's plan, then they can just claim ignorance when they stand before God. But that strategy won't work. Ignorance will not be considered a valid excuse when you stand before God, because God gives us plenty of opportunity to know His will and purpose for our lives.

I'd like to do an exercise to help illustrate "focus" to you. Take a piece of paper and roll it up. Look through it at something in front of you, with one eye closed. What you see is very narrow, very focused. Now put the paper down, and put your hands out and wiggle your fingers. Keep looking at that same object in front of you. Can you see your fingers? Most of you, in your peripheral vision, can see them. Now, if you were to stick the paper over your eye and move your fingers, would you see them? No.

The Lord wants to narrow your vision to see His purpose for your lives. We sometimes get so confused because we see everything that's going on. We see everybody's ministry. We look at this or that out of the corner of our eye and wonder, "Is that for me?" We don't know because we're looking everywhere. We say, "I'd like to do this" and "I'd like to do that" and we're always looking at other things. We need to narrow our focus by looking at what God is doing. First we start with the big picture and then we begin to narrow it. When you don't have your little "telescope" there you're able to see things around you. But God wants you to begin to focus on what He told you to do.

Therefore, we need some guidelines to judge whether we're on the right track. We need to know the very general things God has called the church to do. When we know the very general things, we can begin to judge to gauge whether or not we are on the right track. So, what are some of the things that never change? What are some of the standards that are always sure? What are some of the things that are very general in nature that we can look at the bigger picture and then begin to narrow it down to God's specific calling upon our life?

Lets look at God's primary purpose for the church. There are about five things:

• worship
• evangelism
• relationship and accountability
• maturity
• service

We will look at the first two in this lesson, and we'll look at the remaining ones in the next lesson.

WORSHIP

God has called us into a relationship with Him to worship Him, that's number one. The first thing in our lives is to give God glory. That's the reason God put you on planet earth, that is why are we here; we're here to give God glory.

If we don't glorify God, then we're not doing God's business. Whatever God has called you to do, if it doesn't give Him glory, it's not Him. He won't call you to do anything that doesn't give Him glory. This isn't because God is a selfish, conceited "glory hog!" God isn't like that. God understands that when His glory is present, the there is light. When we give God glory, we're expressing light and we're the recipients of that light. Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do you have to do it to the glory of God. This is a reciprocal thing. When we give God glory, that light shines back upon us and life shines on us. Everything we do needs to give God glory.

Worship is also about drawing us close to Him. Worship is intimacy. Jesus said, that if we do that first part, which is give Him glory, then here is what Jesus wants to do: "and if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32). He wants to draw people to Him. He wants to get close to them.

James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." God wants us to draw near to Him. Hebrews 10:22 says, "Let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith because we've been made free from a guilty conscience and our bodies have been washed with pure water."

Worship is about intimacy. It's about coming to God and getting close to God. It's about coming into the throne of grace. We can come with boldness and confidence into the throne of grace to find mercy in time of need. We find grace and mercy, not judgment. Aren't you glad? It's about worship. God is about worship and it isn't because He's some egotistical God. It's because He knows that whenever we worship Him, whenever the creation worships the Creator, we put ourselves in the place of receiving life, His life.

Worship must be a crucial part of our prayer life. We must draw near to Him and wait on Him and worship Him. We must get to know Him better and draw into deep intimacy with Him. This must be a regular part of our how we come before Him to pray and intercede.

EVANGELISM

We get the word evangelism from a Greek word we transliterate into English. It means to "herald the good news." Jesus told His disciples to do this in when He was in His resurrected state, before He ascended to heaven. In Mark 16:15, He told them to "go into all the world and preach the good news to everyone everywhere." Therefore, as His disciple, you must proclaim the good news of Jesus and you do it in two ways: through your words and through your life.

People can see the Lord Jesus in your life. The Bible says, "So let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven" (Matt 5:16). So your life is a witness. In fact, your life says a whole lot more than your mouth! Your life says whether or not you're genuine and that's what people are looking at. If you tell them one thing, but they're "hearing" something else by observing your life, then it doesn't compute. They will discredit it.

They will experience the presence of God through your life. The more you walk with God and the more you walk in His presence, the more you'll carry His presence with you and people will sense it. They won't always know what they're sensing. They won't always understand what they're feeling or what they're experiencing. You can be one who carries His presence, one who bears His light. And when you get next to people they just start feeling guilty, they start confessing their sins. They start telling you their life story and they will say something like, "I don't know why I'm telling you this." It's because it's the Lord, His presence is with you. People are hungry for the presence of God and people are drawn to that. People will see your life and they will be drawn.

However, there does come a time when you have to explain the power behind the life. It doesn't do any good if you just show them the life, but don't show them what the life represents and Who the power is behind the life. Romans 10:14 says, "But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him and how can they believe in Him if they have never heard of Him and how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?"