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Does God Call the Qualified? | C Petersen | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Does God Call the Qualified?
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The content debunks common "phantom Bible verses" and phrases within Christian circles, arguing that while seemingly encouraging, they can be misleading or even harmful. It emphasizes that the Bible presents a more robust and empowering message about God's calling and equipping of believers.
I want to ask you a question this
morning and that is have you ever heard
someone quote the
Bible only to realize what they said
isn't actually in the Bible so maybe
it's an oversimplified quotation of a
Bible verse for example you've probably
all heard pride comes before a fall
that's not quite what the Bible verse
says if you actually look at it it says
Pride goes before for Destruction and a
Hoy spirit before a fall it's a kind of
condensed oversimplified version or
maybe you've heard this one money is the
root of all
evil but if you look up 1 Timothy 6 and
verse 10 it actually says For the Love
of Money is a root of all kinds of evil
not of all evil but it is a root of all
kinds of evil this one was one that
surprised me we've all heard the Bible
verse the lion will lay with the lamb
right but if you go to the book of
Isaiah it actually says the wolf will
dwell the lamb and the Cal with the
young lion that one was a bit of a shock
to me I didn't know that but at least
some of these phrases you can see how
the mistake was easily made they were
took a Bible verse and oversimplified it
a bit but there are some phrases that
are quoted as scripture but have no
basis in the Bible I'm going to go
through a few and I wonder if you will
can raise your hand if you've heard this
one before cleanliness is Next to
Godliness who's heard this one how about
moderation in all things okay what about
this too shall pass okay the eye is the
window of the soul and he take us for
that one this one I think I heard liby
mention in SBB School God helps those
who help themselves everyone in Sabbath
school should know that one now probably
a lot of those we've heard and either
maybe we've in the past accidentally
quoted it as scripture or maybe heard
someone else say it and we could tell
they thought it was in the Bible but you
won't find anything like these uh these
phrases in scripture in fact some of
them like moderation in all things comes
from Greek philosophy not from the Bible
now believing in some of these what I'll
call Phantom Bible verses they look like
they're there but they're not real some
believing some of these can be a bit
harmless for example it doesn't matter
too much whether you think it's a lion
or a lamb a lion or a wolf next to the
lamb either way it's getting across the
point that there's no sin and death in
the new heavens and new earth but some
of the others can be a bit more
dangerous for example believing God
helps those who help themselves not
really a good kind of belief to
incorporate into our day-to-day life and
so in light of this idea I want to
examine two Phantom Bible verses common
phrases within Christian circles that
are often believed to be from the Bible
but aren't really those phrases are God
does not call the equipped he equips the
called and God does not call the
qualified he qualifies the call now make
as a shock to you that these are not
Bible verses because they are spoken
about so often in Christian
circles but what I want to do this
morning is evaluate whether this phrase
does align with the teachings of the
Bible or more simply I want to ask the
question does God call the unqualified and
and
unequipped ultimately this is a question
about who can do so of us in God's
kingdom and I want to study this topic
especially because as we've done this
morning we've spent time recognizing
those who are doing service for the
church and for God's kingdom but before
we go any further let's just pray
together one more time let's bow our
heads God as we begin to open up your
word and study this important topic we
pray that your Holy Spirit give us
wisdom and understanding please Lord
give us energy as well as uh we're going
a bit later than usual Lord help our
minds to concentrate give us focus and
attention as we hear from you we pray in
your honor amen amen so let's begin
let's step back and see what is this
phrase trying to tell us let's start
with God does not call the equipped he
equips the called what's it trying to
say well the purpose of the phrase is
clear it's meant to encourage Christians
that God will equip them for service
even if they are
unequipped in particular it's mostly
said as a way to encourage people who
perhaps lack a bit of confidence or lack
some self-esteem that they are in fact
good enough to serve God and that is a
very Noble and admirable aspiration to
encourage people to serve God but there
are also two major assumptions in this
phrase the first is that God does not
call the equipped that's what it says
right he does not call the equipped and
the implication then is that he only
calls the unequipped it's trying to say
don't be discouraged God calls
unequipped Christians like you for his
service the question is is that
biblically accurate is there such a
thing as an unequipped CHR I want you to
turn with me to 1 Corinthians CH 12
we're going to be spending quite a bit
of time in uh two different first and 2
Corinthians this morning 1 Corinthians
12 and here the Apostle Paul is giving a detailed
detailed
overview of the doctrine of spiritual
gifts 1 Corinthians 12 and we're going
to begin in verse 4 this morning I'm
reading from the uh NIV
translation 1 Corinthians
12:4 Paul says there are different kinds
of gifts but the Same Spirit distributes them
them
there are different kinds of service but
the same law there are different kinds
of working but in all of them and in
everyone it is the same God at work Paul
is teaching here that within the church
the Holy Spirit has distributed
different spiritual gifts for different
Ministries and services and although
they're all different they come from the
same origin they all come from God and
the Holy Spirit and what is the purpose
of of this distribution of spiritual
gifts the NIV says it's for the common
good the new King James says for the
profit of all the NLT says so we can
help each other it's all referring to
doing service for God and others within
the church this is how God equips
Christians for Ministry the holy spirit
gives spiritual gifts for the purpose of
edifying the church for the purpose of
the mission of the
church and so now the question becomes
all right this is how God equips
Christians but is every Christian
equipped with a spiritual gift let's
begin let's look at verse 12 in the same
chapter uh verse 11 sorry Start in verse
11 all these are the work of one and the
same spirit and he distributes them to
each one just as he
determines just as a body though one has
many parts but all its many parts form
one body so it is with Christ for we
were all baptized by one spirit so as to
form one body whether Jews or Gentiles
slave or free and we were all given the
one Spirit to drink even so the body is
not made up of one part but of many so
Paul says every Christian is part of the
body of the church which is the body of
Christ and in verse 13 He says we're all
baptized by one Spirit we're all given
the one Spirit to drink so in in other
words everyone who is a genuine
Christian has been baptized by the holy
spirit that means everyone who is
baptized by the Holy Spirit receives a
spiritual gift from the Holy
Spirit or or another way of saying it is
all Christians are in the body of the
church we're all in the church but to be
in the church you have to be baptized by
the Holy Spirit and at that baptism you
are given spiritual
gifts and so really what this is
teaching us is there is no such thing as an
an
unequipped Christian if you've been born
again if you're a genuine believer if
you've been saved in the the holy spirit
is in you then the Holy Spirit has given
you spiritual gifts for the service of
the church that is why Peter in 1 Peter
4:10 uh our scripture reading that
Willow read this morning he says each of
you should use whatever gift you have
received to serve others as faithful
stewards of God's grace in its various
forms all of us as Christians when we
are brought into the church God does not
pick and choose who he gives who will
get gifts and who won't get gifts every
Christian has a spiritual gift to build
up the church those gifts are all
different but no one misses out on
receiving a gift receiving that
equipping from God for his
service but we might think to ourselves
look what what is the is there really
that much harm in the phrase right it's
still a nice phrase even if it's not
100% biblically accurate I I believe
there are two dangers to that phrase and
it's why I've decided to talk about it
this morning because it sounds
encouraging but the more you think about
it the more it kind of caves in on
itself the first danger I see is it can
cause stagnation or apathy towards
service to
God if someone believes that they are
unequipped they may just not do anything
they might wait and they might pray on
God God give me something but God is
already given the Christian the gifts to
work with it can potentially give a
sense of delaying I'll just wait for God
to give me my gift but God has already
given us gifts to work with whatever
he's given where to do that the other
second danger I see the phrase is that
it says this it just uh think about the
phrase for a second it says God does not
call the
equipped when I was in my first year of
ministry in
theology this Phantom verse haunted me
because I decided to become a pastor
because I I felt that I had been given
the spiritual gifts of teaching and
preaching I felt convicted that God
wanted me to use these gifts for the
purpose of becoming a
pastor but in the back of my head I kept
hearing this phrase God does not call thee
thee
equipped and for me I thought I was
equipped with these gifts to serve
God what this phrase taught me was that
God had no interest in using me I
thought that my ability to preach and
teach actually disqualified me from
Ministry can you see that there's a bit
of a dark side to this phrase because
for anyone who does recognize their
spiritual gifts it tells them God does
not want you
God doesn't want you you're equipped
with these spiritual gifts but God
doesn't call those people can you see
how it's a little giving an
oversimplified encouraging phrase to one
person can be devastating to another
person who humbly recognizes the gifts
that God has given to
them so whenever I uh I've shared this
kind of message and idea with quite a
few of my friends and other people and
I'll admit no one likes it I tell them
this because they really like the phrase
but I always tell people why believe in
the Phantom bible verse When the Bible
gives us an even better and more
encouraging hope to cling on to which is
that God calls every Christian to serve
him and we've all been equipped with
spiritual gifts I think that's a far
better encouragement for us there's even
more hope in the fact that God does and
God will and does further equip us for
Ministry when we do become baptized and
become Christian we're not limited to
those gifts that we got the first time
when we receive the holy baptism of the
Holy Spirit God doesn't say well that's
it that's the maximum amount of
spiritual gifts I'll give you God can
continue to give us spiritual gifts
whether it's because we're in a
different time in life we're called to a
new role whether it's uh just a
different location whatever
circumstances of Life are in God can
further equip
us um in Ephesians 4 11 let's turn to
Ephesians chapter 4
together Ephesians chapter 4 Paul
continues to talk about this idea of spiritual
spiritual
gifts and uh we'll begin in verse 11 of
it reads so Christ himself gave the
apostles the prophets the evangelists
the pastors and
teachers now I'll pause there in 1
Corinthians 12 all of those people
pastors evangelists teachers prophets in
1 Corinthians 12 God said those were
spiritual gifts have a spiritual gift of
teaching or prophecy but now let's
notice why did God give those spiritual
gifts to the pastors the teachers the
apostles verse 12 says to equip his
people for works of service so that the
body of Christ may be built up until we
all reach unity in the faith and in the
knowledge of the Son of God and become
mature attaining to the whole measure of
the fullness of Christ what is the
purpose of God giving spiritual gifts in
the church it's so those people can
equip other Christians other fellow
Believers to the service of God not only
for the service of God but so that they
can grow in spiritual
maturity in other words we can say
there's no such thing as a non-equipped
Christian but there should also not be
any non-growing Christians all of us
should be using our spiritual gifts to
help equip one another to grow in
service for God and grow in that
spiritual maturity that's what we're
experience now what's incredible is we
can even pray to God to miraculously
give us spiritual gifts through his Holy
Spirit uh this passage is from Hebrews
13 it says now may the God of Peace who
through the blood of the Eternal
Covenant brought back from the dead our
lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the
sheep equip you with everything good for
doing his will and may he work in us
what is pleasing to him through Jesus
Christ to whom be glory forever and ever
this is a prayer for the church that God
would further equip them for their
Ministry the Apostle uh James wrote
something similar he wrote if any of you
lacks wisdom you should ask God who
gives generously to all without finding
fault and it will be given to you here
this is a clear direction if you're in
need of wisdom you need that spiritual
gift pray God give me wisdom this is the
kind of prayer that Solomon prayed when
he became king he was entering a new
role in his life and he said he said God
I'm only a little child and I do not
know how to carry out my duties so give
your servant a Discerning heart to
govern your people and to distinguish
between right and wrong that was the
prayer of Solomon asking God for the
gift of wisdom when Daniel had to pray
for uh to know the not only what the
dream was but Daniel needed to know the
interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream
interpretation of Dreams is also a
spiritual gift Daniel was asking for
this to be given to him by God in Acts 4
the apostles they prayed that God would
give them boldness to preach but also
the spiritual gift of healing and of Miracles
Miracles
God H encourages us to humbly come
before him when we do feel inadequate
when we do need his help and say Lord
you've already given me gifts but I need
more I need you to further equip me
whether it's a new role or a new
location or a new time whatever it is in
life we can say God further equip me
give me more spiritual gifts and James
1: 6 to8 say if you pray that prayer in
faith and according to God's will God
will answer that
prayer it's interesting sometimes God
will even give us a spiritual gift just
for a moment and then it's taken away I
think for example of uh a levite called
I think it was jhazel King Jehoshaphat
was getting ready for a battle against
uh enemy Invaders and this levite
jaaziel it just says the spirit of the
Lord came upon him and he propes side
that the people would be
Victorious now never before and never
after is it implied that jeziel received
the gift of Prophecy but just in this
one moment God gave that gift for jhazel
to encourage the
people uh two other men bezel and aolia
might also be examples of this uh in
Exodus 31 God told Moses he had chosen
these two men and filled them with his
Spirit to have wisdom
understanding and knowledge in
workmanship and Artistry and it was for
the specific purpose of building the
sanctuary so all of this is to say God
gives us a Greater Hope than any Phantom
Bible verse can give because rather than
saying God does not call the equipped he
equips the called the scriptures clearly
teach God does call the equipped and
equips the C that's better news isn't it
as Christians we're equipped and so God
calls all equipped Christians to do his
service and when he calls us if need be
he equips us even
more so now I want to wrap up by looking
at the second phrase God does not call
the qualified he qualifies the call what
does this mean again it sounds very
interesting it sounds very encouraging
but it can often cause a bit more
confusion than ity it again falls into
the same trap as the first Phantom verse
that says God does not call certain
people he only wants this group of
people but a bigger problem is what does
it mean to be
qualified the phrase doesn't really tell
us it doesn't give us a definition to
work with what what type of
qualification is implied here because
it's not specified it's kind of up to
each person to interpret what this is
trying to say for example does it mean
to be morally qualified to serve god
well if that's the case this statement
can't be true because God calls both the
morally qualified and
unqualified God called Saul to be the
Apostle to the Gentiles while Saul was
still a murderer he was persecuting the
Christians Saul was completely morally
unqualified and yet God called him to be
one of the greatest apostles
equally so God called men and women in
the Bible specifically because of their
moral obedience to him it says that God
chose Noah to build the ark because he
was a righteous and blameless man God
chose David to be king because he was a
man after his own heart in the New
Testament there are moral
qualifications for the positions of
Elders deacons and
deaconesses and so of course none of
these people are morally perfect but God
is looking for people who have an
attitude of humble obedience to him so
it can't be moral qualification cuz God
calls the morally qualified and
unqualified maybe maybe being qualified
just refers to being
equipped but we already saw there's no
such thing as an unequipped Christian
we're all equipped with something and
God can further equip us if he needs
to again it's if you really want to try
and uh get your head around the phrase
kind of causes a bit more confusion than
Clarity because it's not clear what
qualification is implied in the
phrase I want you to turn with me to 2
Corinthians 12 this is our final verse
our final passage for this
morning because near as I can tell
there's really just one ultimate
qualification to serve God 2 Corinthians 12
12
here in the church in Corinth Paul was
having to defend his apostil ship
against some charismatic preachers who'd
come to the church and they were trying
to entice the Corinthian Church away
from the gospel and Paul he says look
these preachers they keep saying oh
Paul's not a true Apostle and he says
look if I wanted to I could boast in all
of my achievements I could tell you all
the incredible things I've done for God
the vision experiences I've had all that
I've suff Ed for the name of God but
instead Paul says rather than boast
about everything I've done I'm going to
choose to be a humble
Apostle uh about halfway through verse 7
I'm going to pick up he says therefore
in order to keep me from becoming
conceited I was given a thorn in my
flesh a messenger of Satan to torment me
three times I pleaded with the Lord to
take it away from me so many scholars
they all want to try and figure out
what's The Thorn In the Flesh that Paul
has some say it was a sin he struggled
with most believe it was probably a
physical ailment that he had that caused
him a lot of pain and maybe in his eyes
hindered his ministry whatever it was
this thorn in Paul's flesh it caused him
significant distress so much he pleaded
with God please take this away from me
but let's listen to how God
answered Paul's prayer in verse 9 but
God said to me my grace is sufficient
for you for my power is made perfect in
weakness and then Paul says therefore I
will boast all the more gladly about my
weakness so that Christ's power May rest
on me that is why for Christ's sake I
Delight in weakness in insults in
hardship ship and persecutions and
difficulties for when I am weak then I
am strong God tells Paul my grace is
sufficient for you for my power is made
perfect in
weakness God intentionally chose not to
remove Paul's sword from the flesh not
only to keep Paul humble but to teach
him an important lesson and that lesson
was in order to be qualified to serve
him in in order for God's power to be
used through him it would be used
through Paul's
weakness if Paul could recognize his
weakness and his dependence and Reliance
on God then God said Paul I will use you
powerfully the ultimate qualification to
serve God is recognizing our weakness
and having humble obedience and
surrendering to God God can't use the
person who thinks they don't need him if
someone thinks I can do this all by
myself I can do this in My Own Strength
I can do this with my own talents and
skills God can't work through that
person but for the person who humbly
recognizes they say God look at look at
all my weaknesses look at my
shortcomings without you I can't do
anything even the gifts that I have have
come from you in the holy
spirit that type of person who has a
humble at ude God can use that person
that in my eyes is the ultimate
qualification to serve God and that's
why God in the Bible uses all sorts of
different people he uses Shepherds Kings
doctors fishermen Queens housekeepers
mothers fathers priests scribes wise men
princes Farmers God will use absolutely
anyone if they are willing to recognize
how weak they are how short thought they
for but are humble enough to say God I
recognize that you work through me God I
know I fall short of your glory I will
be obedient to you I'll follow whatever
you say I'm surrendering to you may your
power work through me and that's why
Paul can say when we're weak that's when
we're really strong not because of our
strength but because when we're weak
God's strength can work through
us I don't want to confuse you too much
but I think you'll get what I mean as I
say this the irony kind of is that in
recognizing we're unqualified or weak
that's what makes us qualified to serve
God do you getar what I'm saying there
don't want to over over complicate
things but that's really it right if we
recognize God I'm not qualified I'm weak
I'm I'm fall short if we can recognize
that in a sense that that is what makes
us qualified to serve God God can then
say I can use you you you know your
weaknesses now my power can work
strongly and mindly through you so how
do these two Phantom verses stand up
according to the
Bible in my estimation as I look through
scripture I can't say that they work
very well there is some truth to them of
course there's a bit of Kernel of Truth in
in
everything but there's there's a lot of
danger in them as well it can lead to
apathy it can lead to despair it can
lead to
confusion and so I tell people even when
they don't quite like me saying this
look we have something better better
than the Phantom verses is the true
verses that we read in the scripture and
Bible the Bible tells us this God equips
every Christian with spiritual gifts and
he can give even more when we need them
whether it's whatever role whatever
place we're in God can use us and
finally God does call the qualified in
the sense that the one qualification or
the ultimate qualification to serve God
is humility and recognizing your own
weaknesses and shortcomings if you can
do that God can work powerfully through
you and through his holy spirit today
we've been having a special service
recognizing the calling that God has
given all the different members of our
church body to serve him and I want to
encourage all of us whatever way it is
we serve whatever contribution we give
whatever spiritual gift the Holy Spirit
has given you to minister and serve the
church and others use that gift Play
Your Part in the body of
Christ recognize your weaknesses and
depend on God to work through you it
doesn't matter what our background is
doesn't matter what natural skills we
have doesn't matter what our occupation
is whatever it is it doesn't matter
because God is calling all of us to
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