{"id":11433,"date":"2017-08-17T00:10:02","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T07:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=11433"},"modified":"2017-08-17T00:10:02","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T07:10:02","slug":"august-17-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/08\/17\/august-17-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"August 17, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201c\u2026 I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you\u2026 (I send you to the Gentiles), to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.\u201d Acts 26:16-18<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s Call
\n<\/span><\/strong>Part 2<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

Yesterday we looked at Paul\u2019s specific call to be a missionary\u2014and how we all have the same call and the same reasons to share the gospel where we live.<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon closer reading, there is another nugget implied in this passage\u2014\u201cthings which I will yet reveal to you\u2026\u201d<\/em> It\u2019s Jesus\u2019 promise of ongoing communication with Paul. Sure, Paul had seen things he could testify to, but there was so much more to come.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus promised further revelation\u2014things that He, Jesus, already knew about. He was going to open the doors to a great, wide vista that Paul had never seen nor known to exist. Paul had a future of usefulness in the kingdom. At that moment, he was given a purpose, a reason to live. Christ would show him as he went along, so Paul knew he wouldn\u2019t be left on his own to figure it out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly, Paul was accustomed to receiving orders from the high priest of the temple to persecute the Christians. This time, his orders came from the Great High Priest who dwells in a temple not made with hands. If I may state the obvious, He\u2019s the One Who really knows what\u2019s going on. When He gives an order, there\u2019s a reason for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s always more<\/strong> when Jesus calls. When I was a young believer, before I was married or had children, I didn\u2019t want the Rapture to come. I was afraid I\u2019d miss out on what life had to offer me on this earth. Now, decades later, I can testify that life without Christ doesn\u2019t offer much of anything. It\u2019s just like a dandelion that goes to seed\u2014a little fluffball that you blow on and watch while it scatters in the air (causing weeds to grow.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus opens the door to not only a new life, but an exciting, adventurous life. I\u2019ve had more experiences following Him than I ever would have if I\u2019d lived for myself. Life with Jesus has been sometimes hard and painful and sacrificial\u2014but abundant, beautiful, satisfying and fulfilling. His promise to us is to constantly reveal Himself, and to show us the things we need to know as we go along. He reveals mysteries, peels back layers of understanding, and sends us off in new directions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m excited about the Rapture\u2014I can\u2019t imagine what is waiting for us in heaven!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFather, we know that You call us to MORE. More than what we\u2019re thinking, more than what we\u2019re doing, more than we currently know. Thank You. Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c\u2026 I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-2Yp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}