Answer Your Calling by Brother Curtis Hansen

         There is a couple of places we are going to read in scripture for this message. If you would like to do a further study over the week, read the book of 2 Kings chapters 22 and 23 as well as the companion book 2 Chronicles 35. Life in the world today is filled with people never content and always searching for something. The search could be possessions or items that give a person a temporary satisfaction. The searching and obtaining of things on this earth instead of searching and understanding God more is an empty gesture.

        The message today is about answering your personal calling. We are going to be reading a few passages about the reign of King Josiah. Often times you listen to messages from the pulpit; there are moments where your flesh may feel shame. That feeling isn't shame; it's conviction from God. Take that conviction before him. He's using it to reach out and talk to you.

        Let's begin reading in 2 Kings chapter 22, starting in verse one.

        Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

        2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned aside to the right hand or to the left.

        Now in verses 3-7 jumps to the 18th year of Josiah's reign. He sends his scribe Shaphan to the temple to oversee the collection and use of money for the repairs made to the temple. In the repair and restoration of the temple, the high priest Hilkiah finds the Book of the Law, gives it to Shaphan. The scribe reads the scroll aloud to Josiah and his court. Josiah was so moved by the words in the Book of the Law, that he rent his clothes. To rent your clothes in this time was an expression of grief or mourning.

        Josiah was shown with the heart to serve, but he doesn't have the knowledge at first. When the words are read aloud from the Book, he tore his clothes.

        God calls out people in 3 ways. The first one is affinity. What are the things you love and what is it to draw you out. Essentially, what are things that personally drive you. The second one is ability. What are the things you are innately good at in life? The 3rd is opportunity. What doors has the Lord opened for you? We think about out calling when God opens the door. Our brain immediately comes to the conclusion that the open door is the calling. The drawing out begins long before a single door is opened.

        Daniel didn't become a man of conviction in Babylon. That conviction was already present in his life before his capture. If anything, Babylon revealed what was started in Jerusalem. 

        Affinity is the thing that drives you. What you pursue in life. In midsize and large churches, this is why there is such a diversity of ministries at work. You need to find something that sticks to God closely and you will want to pursue it. Because everyone's affinity is different with how they think, many sanctuaries are filled with Christians that are fixated and mad at their neighbors over some small thing. The key of correctly harnessing your affinity is find out what things you love or what you strongly oppose.

        Let's return to the scripture. Josiah was 8 years old when he became king. By the time he was 18, he truly started to pursue God with the Book of the Law being found. 

        The 2nd point is about ability. In the 1st chapter of Daniel, it was written that the men were gifted, educated, skillful and wise. Babylon didn't train and hone those abilities listed, but they wanted to exploit and use them. The world at large does likewise to you in life. Ask yourself what you are truly good at? How are you using what you are good at for God? Do you give him 100% of your talent or do you apply that to making a comfortable life with a fattened wage? To God be the glory or just a whispered brief prayer during a church service?

        Let's go down to verse 19 of 2 Kings 22.

        19 Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.

        20 Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

        God develops abilities in private before he reveals them in public. Some people will go through hidden seasons. You are hidden and isolated from both God and the world. There's more preparation before presentation.

        The 3rd calling is opportunity. God is opening doors for you, and you may have to make difficult decisions. Opportunity is very important and it's where a lot of Christians get hung up. This is where your character and abilities are revealed.

        In the story of Daniel, opportunity didn't make him faithful. Being faithful made Daniel prepared for his opportunities. Babylon gave Daniel influence, but Jerusalem gave him conviction. The conviction that hits you from time to time. It's a twinge or a prick.

        Closing this morning, without Josiah would Daniel's story be different? Josiah died young but didn't see his kingdom overtaken by Babylon. The nation turned back to the idols in the land after his death. Those who truly receive carry it forward.