Oppostion to Your Call
1) From People
-People may not understand
-People may be jealous
David's Brtothers: "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you
leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited
you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle."
1 Samuel 17:28
2) From Satan
-Satan will want to stop you
-Satan will use people
Paul to the Thessalonians: "For we wanted to come to you -certainly I,
Paul, did, again and again -but Satan stopped us. For what is our hope, our
joy,
or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he
comes? Is it not you?" 1 Thessalonians 2:17
3) From God
-God will test you
-God will cause you to grow and get stronger
Abraham: "Sometime later God tested Abraham" Genesis 22:1
4) There is a Price that
you must be willing to pay
-no mission is completed without a cost
-we are servants and servants must work
-Paul's price: "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill
up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for
the sake of his body,
which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me
to present to your the word of God in its fullness." Colossians 1:24
-Moses chooses to abandon riches of Egypt for God's will. "He chose to
be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a short time.
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of tgreater value than the treasures
of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward." Hebrews 11:25,26
5) You are still being
prepared and maturing
-all things have to mature to produce. It takes a mosquito a few days to mature.
It takes an apple tree 3-10 years to bear fruit.
-it took Moses 40 years to mature (or, before God released him to fulfill his
mission) after he accepted the call
-we need time and training to mature.
-we must learn to understand our purpose, trust God, and endure to the end
-James 1:2-8