Sermon by Ps Daniel Khong at the Faith Community Baptist Church on 25 Oct 2025. For the full weekend service in English (inclusive of worship), click here....
Background
A calling means a strong urge towards a particular pursuit - way of life, career, mission. The Christian meaning of "calling" means
- God's invitation to us to turn to him
- God's collective and individual assignment to us to carry out specific tasks or mission
Paul wrote to Timothy that says we are called out of sin into a holy life. Moses was called to lead his people out of Egypt. The big question is how to know our calling, and how to know if the calling is really from God.
What must we hold on to, to live out our calling? 3 things:
1. Focus on God's sovereign plan, and not our personal desires
The prophet Jonah's call was to go preach to the people of Nineveh, but he refuses and ran away. God chased after him, sent a wind and a huge fish to swallow him. Jonah wants Nineveh destroyed but God's plan is for Jonah to proclaim the message and have Nineveh saved.
God is both a God of breakthroughs and. God of roadblocks. Sometimes he has to block you to redirect you back to the right path. Luke 9:23 reminds us that to be Jesus's disciple, we must deny ourselves，take up our cross and follow Him.
2. Follow God's timing rather than our myopic schedule
We see things in our small timeframe versus God's schedule which transcends time.
Opportunity is not the same as calling; wise believers test the spirits behind open doors - John Macarthur. The apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:1 that we should test the spirits to see if they really are from God because there are false prophets...
The period between God's promises to Abraham that he will be a father of a great nation spans 25 years. And he did not see the promise of being a great nation.
Patience is the gift of being able to see past the emotion. God says in Proverbs that better a patient person than a warrior, one with self control than one who takes a city.
3. God's works within the entrusted community, and not our individualistic mindset
Scripture always say the God works through his community- that we spur one another towards love and good deeds. God wants us to agitate each other so that we can die to self and follow God. In a community there will be protection, and that a cord of 3 strands is not easily broken.
2 important questions to ask
- Do we understand the importance and necessity of spiritual covering?
- Do we want the church's spiritual covering?
Note: gifting may not be equal to calling.
In many cases, it is the opposite because God wants us to depend on him.
Keyword is surrender - we need to surrender our desires to God so that he can use it for the best.