GOD'S CALLING

Sermon Notes, February 23, 2014

Major Will Cundiff

Major Will Cundiff, from the Salvation Army, spoke in our service Sunday.  He told the story of his call to preach.  In 1972, he and his wife were on the verge of divorce.  Some men from the Church of the Nazarene came to his house and told him they needed him and his family at their church.  He politely declined.  Later, as he and his wife were watching Billy Graham on TV, they were convicted of their sin and made a decision to serve Jesus.  They went to the church they’d been invited to and made a public confession of faith and God healed their marriage.  They became involved in the life of the church, even leading a Bible Study.  He kept feeling that God wanted more from him, and he asked God to let him know if what he was feeling was from Him, or just his own desire.  One night, he felt a Presence in the bedroom, and like Samuel in the Bible, three times the Presence asked him, “What do you want?”  He didn’t know what to make of it.  When he asked the men of the church, one of the men told him to read Isaiah 6, and then he knew that, like Isaiah, God was calling him.  It was real.  His call was that second work of grace which we all need, when we give EVERYTHING to God,

Is there a place for the doctrine of holiness today?  God wants us in a personal relationship, with Him and with others.  He has called us to “Be holy because I am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2)  The world doesn’t understand holiness.  “Perfect” can be translated “filled up.”  You and God make a new covenant.  We stand for a lifestyle—moving in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Luke 4:14-21 tells of Jesus after the temptation in the wilderness.  He read in the synagogue from Isaiah 61, and told them “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Is there a place for a church life like Luke 4:18?  God changes our language and actions when we give ourselves to Him.  Heaven—or hell—will be enlarged by our daily actions.  It’s all about us giving up our life to serve Him by serving others.  Look at the cross.  And look beyond the cross—Jesus told his disciples to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Where’s the fire today?  There are people who don’t know how much God loves them.  The men who talked to Major Will didn’t just ask him—they told him they needed him.  Are there people out there who want to come, but nobody asks them?