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00:00:01
#2: Why Does My Calling Matter?
61 Plays4 months ago
In this episode, Rich Brown invites ministry leaders to reflect deeply on their personal calling and the profound impact it has on their leadership and service. Through Scripture, personal stories, and practical insights, Rich explores how understanding and stewarding your calling can transform both your ministry and the lives of those you lead. Over a virtual cup of coffee, he encourages listeners to remember why they first said yes to serving, to recognize God’s hand in shaping their purpose, and to guard that sacred calling with faithfulness and passion.
Resources Mentioned:
• Called to Ministry: Calling Out the Called by Scott Pace and Shane Pruitt – https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/called-to-ministry-P008015192
• Lectures to My Students by C.H. Spurgeon – https://www.christianbook.com/lectures-to-my-students-charles-spurgeon/9781603740984/pd/740984
• The Life of D.L. Moody by William R. Moody – https://archive.org/details/lifeofd.l.moody00mood
• The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding (CPYU) – Walt Mueller – https://cpyu.org/
Timestamps:
• 00:00 – Welcome and introduction: why your calling matters
• 01:00 – Rich’s first ministry experience and reflections on the early call
• 03:30 – Exploring the biblical foundation of calling: from Genesis to Paul
• 09:00 – Rich’s personal calling story and God’s preparation process
• 11:20 – Four marks of a genuine calling: heart, skills, affirmation, and circumstances
• 19:30 – Reflecting on the impact of your calling: five ways ministry changes lives
• 22:00 – Bridging generations and standing in the cultural gap for today’s youth
• 27:30 – Multiplying a gospel legacy through faithful ministry
• 28:15 – The stewardship of your calling: guarding what God has entrusted to you
• 32:30 – Call to action: share your calling story this week.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Ministry Leadership
00:00:01
NextGen Matters
Hey for friend, welcome to the Next Gen Matters podcast, a show for ministry leaders seeking to move beyond overwhelm and move into leading with clarity, confidence, and consistency.
Purpose in Ministry
00:00:13
NextGen Matters
I'm Rich Brown, and in today's episode, we are looking into your why, the reason for why you are involved in ministry and in the lives that you serve.
00:00:23
NextGen Matters
Specifically, why does my calling matter? Why does my calling matter? Hey, I want you to think back. That first time that you stepped into involvement, whether it was children's men, student ministry, young adult ministry, you stepped into some role within a serving capacity.
00:00:46
NextGen Matters
And I don't mean just a one-off where someone had you come in to help on a given week, like you were the substitute, right? I'm talking about where you stepped in with both feet and you joined the team.
Reflecting on Personal Ministry Journey
00:01:00
NextGen Matters
I remember mine, was actually a high school senior. So here we are, right? think Think like this. These episodes, we're getting coffee, y'all. If you don't have your coffee quite ready, you better get your coffee, okay?
00:01:12
NextGen Matters
So over our coffee conversation, we're talking about our calling. so I'm going to tell about mine. So I remember the first time I got involved, high school senior and the Sunday school superintendent asked if I would become the fifth grade boys Sunday school teacher now I just dropped you back to in the day when I said the phrase Sunday school superintendent yes this was a long time ago the year was 1921 the group was journey the song was don't stop believing oh sorry I digress there but that's when it came out
00:01:51
NextGen Matters
That was 1981. I was wrapping up my senior year high school and Sunday school super superintendent said, hey, we need some help. do that And I was like, okay, I'll do it. actually enjoyed it.
00:02:02
NextGen Matters
And what's crazy to think about is I had no idea that that was part of God preparing me for something that was going to come into my life two years later. So when did you first step in?
00:02:15
NextGen Matters
Was it high school? Maybe college age?
The Universal Christian Calling
00:02:19
NextGen Matters
maybe as a young adult or even as an older adult, when did you step into that serving role? So more than just when, the deeper question is, why?
00:02:31
NextGen Matters
Why did you do it? For many of you, it may have been because there was a need and someone asked to you and you said, okay, I'll fill the need. And you didn't want to hurt so-and-so's feelings or you really admire that church leader that invited you into that that that opportunity and you said, okay, I'll do it.
00:02:50
NextGen Matters
Weren't really quite sure if that was you or not, but you said yes. And then you started to like it. Or maybe your story's a little different. You actually
00:03:02
NextGen Matters
were appreciative of the opportunity to serve and you said yes. And they asked you and you said, yeah, gonna jump right in. Or maybe it's even more different. You approached them and you said, God is putting this on my heart. I want to serve. Is there any place I can serve in the ministry?
00:03:19
NextGen Matters
Whatever reason you had, you got involved. Now, we're going to be talking today about your calling. Every one of us, if you're in Christ, has a calling to serve Him.
00:03:36
NextGen Matters
That's Ephesians 2.10. to can We are all given by God the mandate to be his workmanship. We are his workman workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
00:03:51
NextGen Matters
So if you're in Christ, you are in ministry. We are all called to be his ambassadors, 2 Corinthians 5. We're all called to be his witnesses, Acts 1a. We are all called to do ministry.
Vocational Ministry Principles
00:04:04
NextGen Matters
So I think of it as a large circle. We are all called to serve Jesus, his church, and his kingdom purposes. But let me take a smaller circle.
00:04:17
NextGen Matters
This episode is going to focus on a smaller circle, and that is those who are specifically looking either at doing or are already involved in vocational ministry, even more specific pastoral work.
00:04:33
NextGen Matters
Now, if you're a volunteer and you're not on staff someplace, don't turn this off. I guarantee you it's going to be a blessing to you because the principles are just as true for you as I lay these out as they are for those who are being paid by the church to do church work.
00:04:52
NextGen Matters
Okay? There are three areas we're going to be looking at. The word reflect is in all three of these key phrases or key points I'm making throughout this time together.
Understanding 'Calling' in Ministry
00:05:06
NextGen Matters
We're going to be reflecting, number one, on your calling. Then I want you to reflect on the impact of your calling. We'll be finishing then with reflect upon the stewardship of your calling.
00:05:22
NextGen Matters
So let's start with the idea of calling. First of all, we have to define the term. I've listened to a lot of business podcasts. Many of them are believers, some are not.
00:05:34
NextGen Matters
But what's interesting is they all have this sense of referencing your calling. I'll even hear some talk about they got their calling. It's happy vibes. It's from the universe, whatever that means.
00:05:48
NextGen Matters
But when they say calling, I think they're referring to their career path, their vocational pathway.
00:05:54
NextGen Matters
I think of the word calling as someone who is a follower of Christ and a student of scripture. And no, calling isn't some passive, universal, I felt this vibe.
Biblical Examples of Calling
00:06:08
NextGen Matters
It's much deeper than that.
00:06:10
NextGen Matters
When I think of the word call, I'm old enough to remember a telephone on the wall. And hopefully if you were lucky enough, you had a 20-foot cord so you weren't strapped to the wall in the kitchen.
00:06:23
NextGen Matters
You could actually walk 20 feet around the house when you're on a phone call. Someone calls your house, you answer it because that's what you're supposed to do. You answer the call.
00:06:34
NextGen Matters
Someone proactively reached out to you. That's what I'm talking about. God proactively reached out to you. He initiated this call.
00:06:48
NextGen Matters
Let's go right back to the beginning of Scripture, the book of Genesis in chapter 3. First time we see God calling people was Adam and Eve, and he called them out because they had sinned.
00:07:00
NextGen Matters
And then he called them out of the garden because of their sin. I see Noah being called. He's called to go build an ark. What's an ark? Build an ark.
00:07:11
NextGen Matters
You'll understand, right? And God spares him and his family. Chapters later, the called Abram, who became Father Abraham, who had many sons.
00:07:25
NextGen Matters
I'm sorry, that's now in your head, isn't it? Abraham had the call of God. Then Isaac, then Jacob, then Joseph. We get into the book of Exodus.
00:07:38
NextGen Matters
Moses had the call of God. Chapter three, a burning bush called into what he was to do. Joshua had a call of God. I'm gonna keep going, right?
00:07:49
NextGen Matters
You get into the judges. Those judges had a call of God. You get into the beginning of the book of 1 Samuel. A child, an older child named Samuel,
00:08:02
NextGen Matters
Literally had the call of God in his own bedroom. And his reply was, hear my Lord. Speak, for your servant is listening.
00:08:12
NextGen Matters
That Samuel, as he became older as a prophet and a man of God, called a gentleman from the tribe of Benjamin to be the first king of Israel, King Saul.
00:08:24
NextGen Matters
That prophet later anointed a teenager named David, who would then become King David. Do you see where I'm going with this? God is proactively reaching out to his people, saying, I have a task for you, a mission for you.
00:08:38
NextGen Matters
I'm going to be calling you to go do this. Isaiah, Jeremiah, the various prophets all were called by God. Jeremiah 1.5, before i formed you in the womb, I knew you. I had called you.
00:08:55
NextGen Matters
I think of John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus himself, Jesus calling the 12, Jesus in Acts 9 calling Paul, Saul then to become saved and then to be commissioned to be the light to the Gentiles.
00:09:10
NextGen Matters
Do you see what I'm saying? God is proactive in his call. I want you to reflect on your call. God specifically
00:09:20
NextGen Matters
gave you a task.
00:09:22
NextGen Matters
And I'm not sure exactly as you listen what your calling is. I know what mine is. My calling really came to me as a sophomore, a second year student in my university.
00:09:35
NextGen Matters
And as I'm hearing a man preaching of the need to have youth pastors, he was calling us out to be called. Yes, that's a reference to Dr. Pace's, Scott Pace and Shane Pruitt's book. If you're watching on YouTube, it's right here in front of me.
00:09:52
NextGen Matters
calling out the cult. Great book. I would encourage you to get it, read it, pass it on to your students. And that's what my, this, this gentleman who later became my youth ministries professor.
00:10:03
NextGen Matters
I didn't know That's the first time I saw the man on the stage days, preaching the need for youth pastors and youth ministry leaders. And, God was already working in my heart. You see, God circumstantially already was clearing the playing field of my life, removing some other things in my life, and had me ready for his call.
00:10:24
NextGen Matters
I was 19. The call to work with students. And I haven't looked back. Now, my role has changed over the years. Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:10:36
NextGen Matters
I went from being the student pastor to then training future student pastors in the classroom to now working with those student pastors through NextGen Matters. But that calling to students and that calling to shepherd people has never left
Signs of a Ministry Calling
00:10:51
NextGen Matters
me.
00:10:52
NextGen Matters
The role has changed, but the calling hasn't. As I think about the calling and as I ask you to reflect on your calling, I've been asked many times over the years, especially being a residential professor in my office, one-on-one after class, hey, doc, what's what's this about? What's this thing about your calling? How do you know you're called?
00:11:16
NextGen Matters
I finally just wrote four things down that I had because I kept repeating myself. I thought I'm going to write these down into like a journal article, you know? And actually, I have these four areas right here. going to share these with you and see if you can recognize these in your own life. I have a hunch you will.
00:11:33
NextGen Matters
The first of the four areas as you reflect on your calling, your calling, first of all, starts in your heart. 1 Timothy 3.1. The Apostle Paul says to Timothy to teach those people the following, that anyone who desires the office of means the position of.
00:11:52
NextGen Matters
elder, overseer, pastor, desires. He says he desires a good work. God puts that desire in you. It starts in your heart. And as I go through these four things, I want you to see there's the human element, the human side, and there's the divine side.
00:12:09
NextGen Matters
It starts in my heart. But as I look back, I realize God did the choosing Second is the skills. The skills were placed in me. The skills were placed in you.
00:12:20
NextGen Matters
God is not going to call you to something and not give you the skills to do it. In 2 Timothy 1.6, I have it right here.
00:12:29
NextGen Matters
Paul is telling Timothy, "...for this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying out of my hands." I'm first part again.
00:12:40
NextGen Matters
For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God. God gave him that gift. In this case, was his calling. Paul is referencing his what we call today his ordination.
00:12:53
NextGen Matters
Paul and others laid their hands on him. it wasn't spooky. It wasn't crazy. It was just we are representing God and his power coming over you to let you know we are simply affirming what God did to confirm in your life of God's call.
00:13:11
NextGen Matters
Paul was calling Timothy back to his calling by saying, fan that back into flame. He was feeling a sense of burnout and his fire, his passion for ministry was waning.
00:13:22
NextGen Matters
And Paul said, fan it back into flame. Remember your calling.
00:13:28
NextGen Matters
Skills are placed in you. God places those skills in us. And while it's being shaped in us, as God has given us those areas of whether it's communication, administration, et cetera, those skills that we need to do ministry well.
00:13:45
NextGen Matters
Also keep in mind, you have to work at your craft. You have to become better at what you do. Even now, even now, I read over 30 books a year in the morning time.
00:13:59
NextGen Matters
I'm committed to listening to God's word throughout the entirety of the year. So every morning I listen to God's word. That portion of scripture is a journey 365 through the year. I then will read God's word in the chronological Bible. I love the chronological but Bible. I read it every year.
00:14:17
NextGen Matters
I'm listening to God's word. I'm reading God's word through every year. Then after my prayer time, I do personal development time of reading books. Some are theology, some are ministry, some are business books, some are professional development books.
00:14:33
NextGen Matters
And I have a whole list I lay out because I want to be proactive in making sure that I'm growing. There are specific podcasts I listen to on a daily basis.
00:14:44
NextGen Matters
Monday is this podcast. I won't mention them. I know what they are. But Monday is so-and-so. Tuesday is so-and-so. Wednesday is so-and-so, et cetera. because I want to be a constant learner.
00:14:56
NextGen Matters
I also realize though, that while I'm shaping this in my life, God's part is God has constructed me. God is the one constructing in me.
00:15:10
NextGen Matters
God is the one who has given me that ability. So it it first of all starts in my heart. The skills are placed within me. But then third, it's shown to others.
00:15:21
NextGen Matters
I want you to think about that.
00:15:23
NextGen Matters
As you were feeling that sense of calling, I'll guarantee you there were people around you that called you up and they said something like, hey, I see this in you. Why don't you join us in this ministry?
00:15:36
NextGen Matters
Or hey, I think you should do a youth talk. I look back at my calling as a 19-year-old and realize at 16, my youth director said, Rich, could you give The talk, the the lesson on our Sunday night youth group is like a few weeks prior. He said, can you give the youth talk?
00:15:56
NextGen Matters
That's the first time i ever put a talk together. It was John 4, woman at the well. Did I maybe last 10 minutes? I don't know.
00:16:05
NextGen Matters
I didn't know it then, but that was all part of God preparing me. Others were beginning to believe in me, stretching me, calling out the called. It was shown to others.
00:16:18
NextGen Matters
And I say this because also in 2 Timothy 1.6, not just Paul put his hands on Timothy, but others did as well. Think of Acts 16. When Paul met Timothy, it was the church people that recommended Timothy to Paul.
00:16:34
NextGen Matters
Others had seen this in Timothy. He's a man who's a young disciple. He's a young man who's a young disciple, it says in chapter 16, and they recommend him to Paul.
00:16:45
NextGen Matters
Others saw it. And where's the divine side? God was confirming that calling by using the voices of others. Right now, want think about who was in your life, man. Who was in your life that was spitting that truth into your life? Man, have you ever thought about ministry?
00:17:06
NextGen Matters
Maybe was your mama. Maybe it was grandma. Maybe it was a grandma in the church, just not your grandma. Someone saw something in you and said, you ought to think about doing this. Right now, I'd say you ought to think about writing somebody a note or hitting somebody up with a text to say, thank you for just not believing in me.
00:17:26
NextGen Matters
Thank you for believing in God.
00:17:28
NextGen Matters
And you obeyed the voice of God and you were the instrument of God to encourage me.
Impacts of Living Your Ministry Calling
00:17:35
NextGen Matters
The fourth area of our sense of calling is that situations bring it to pass.
00:17:41
NextGen Matters
God uses circumstances to bring it to pass. I think of Acts 9. That's a significant circumstance. Saul is on his road to Damascus where a shining light takes place, blinds him, gets his attention.
00:17:57
NextGen Matters
The voice of Jesus Christ is right there. Why are you pushing against the goads? why are you Why are you resisting me?
00:18:08
NextGen Matters
I am calling you to myself. this is so cool, y'all. Not only was Jesus calling Paul to salvation, but he's also calling him to his ministry because he says, I have ordained you to be the light to the Gentiles, the man who hated Gentiles as a God-fearing Jew.
00:18:30
NextGen Matters
Crazy. He got his call Jesus, a call to salvation, and his call to ministry in the same conversation, which is not normal. But usually our calling to ministry is spread out much after our call to salvation.
00:18:45
NextGen Matters
But God uses situations. God uses circumstances. I just mentioned Timothy in Acts 16. Paul happens to be in those churches that he and Barnabas started.
00:18:57
NextGen Matters
And now he and his new guy, Silas, are back visiting. Paul happens to be there. Timothy's there. All these circumstances come together. Timothy jumps on Team Paul.
00:19:10
NextGen Matters
Think back to your circumstances. So that's a lot right there, but number one, reflect on your calling. Second area i want you to think about is reflect on the impact of your calling.
00:19:24
NextGen Matters
There's five things I've thought about. I wrote these out. I'm read them to you. I want you to really consider these. Some you may resonate with, others you may have not considered before.
00:19:35
NextGen Matters
But these are five impacts you have on the lives of others as you live out your calling. Here's the first one. You are building the future leaders and the future servants of the church.
00:19:51
NextGen Matters
I know that we say the phrase, and I believe in it, that students are not the church of tomorrow, they're the church of today. I've been saying that phrase for over 30 years myself. Believe it.
00:20:04
NextGen Matters
But I also understand they are not in leadership roles yet. But someday we want them to be. You are building the future leaders and the future servants of the church.
00:20:18
NextGen Matters
That is a crazy and awesome call, man. You are forming the disciples who will lead, serve, and shape the church of tomorrow when you and i honestly are with the Lord.
00:20:33
NextGen Matters
You are impacting the middle of this century and even the end of this century if Christ doesn't return soon. You and I are impacting the middle of the 21st century and the end of the 21st century, the Church of Jesus, through what we're doing today.
00:20:53
NextGen Matters
Secondary your area of impact is you are bridging generational gaps. This is cool. want you get your head around this. There are adults in your church that don't know any teenagers.
00:21:06
NextGen Matters
There are adults in your church that don't know any of those children. But you know those adults and you know them. You can be the bridge. You can be the generational bridge to bridge the gap between these children, these youth, and these adults.
00:21:25
NextGen Matters
You also are in the position of knowing them, the children and the youth, to bring them to the adults. You, in the middle of our silos, can bring synergy.
00:21:40
NextGen Matters
You can bring collaboration,
00:21:44
NextGen Matters
which will strengthen families, reduce ministry burnout, and you will foster culture of mentoring and belonging. and I continually will say this, I've said it for years in the classroom, I will continually say this, for every adult, a child and teenager gets to know and know well is another reason they will stay.
00:22:07
NextGen Matters
For every adult they get to know That adult is one more reason they will stay in that church upon graduation from high school. And you can be that generational bridge builder.
00:22:19
NextGen Matters
Third impact you bring is you are fulfilling the biblical mandate of Psalm 145 and verse 4. I said in the last episode, one generation shall commend your works to another.
00:22:31
NextGen Matters
Last episode with so much on why the next generation matters. And this just encapsulates that you are fulfilling the biblical mandate. You're also standing in the gap. And I want i want you to think about this.
00:22:45
NextGen Matters
I mean, we understand that today's youth and these adolescents are dealing with stuff that, while there's a lot of similarities that we dealt with when we were young, there's a lot of things that we did not have to face that they're having to face. And First of all, to be very, very honest, they are facing this pornographic crisis that we never had growing up.
00:23:07
NextGen Matters
Crisis meaning it's literally all around you. It's one, two, three clicks away on your phone. Now I'm older than some of you, so I can say that I didn't grow up with a phone. My phone, like I said, was on the wall.
00:23:20
NextGen Matters
And if you're younger in your 20s, if you're your Gen Z, you grew up with a phone. But for many of our listeners, you did not grow up with something right there in your pocket. which could bring you wonderful things of life and also bring you some horrific things as well.
00:23:37
NextGen Matters
Our students not only are facing those purity challenges, they're facing anxiety challenges, depression, suicidal challenges, digital saturation, identity confusion, spiritual apathy.
00:23:52
NextGen Matters
I'm not trying to be a downer in this. I'm just saying in in realville, they're facing a lot of stuff and you get to be a spiritual first responder.
00:24:06
NextGen Matters
Yeah, just like there's a physical first responder, EMTs, et cetera, firefighters, you are a spiritual first responder. You are offering hope, truth.
00:24:18
NextGen Matters
You're offering the gospel. You're offering restorative rhythms in the midst of this cultural chaos.
00:24:28
NextGen Matters
especially to those students who don't have Christian families. You truly are. You and your adult team around you are the first responders, spiritually speaking.
00:24:38
NextGen Matters
You're the first adults they will have met who love Jesus and can show and share Jesus with them. Wow, that is awesome.
00:24:50
NextGen Matters
And the last of the five impacts you bring is you are multiplying a legacy of the gospel. You are multiplying a legacy of the gospel. Again, I just keep thinking that we have to understand
00:25:06
NextGen Matters
The fragility of life. we We sometimes think we're always going to be here. That's not true. When I am gone, not if, when i am gone, what legacy did I leave in the lives of my children, my grandchildren, and hundreds and thousands of other people that i know and have a contact with?
00:25:23
NextGen Matters
What legacy do I leave?
00:25:27
NextGen Matters
In my home office, I have a lot of older books. but a lot of older ministry books are here in the office. If you're watching on YouTube, up on left shoulder, that bookcase over there, that fourth shelf is all C.H. Spurgeon and D.L. Moody books.
00:25:44
NextGen Matters
And they're old. Well, those two guys are older they're with the Lord now, but I mean, the books are old. This is my father's when he was in seminary. One of C.H. Spurgeon's book books is called Lectures to My Students. Again, if you're watching YouTube, I'm holding it up.
00:26:00
NextGen Matters
lecture to my students. You see, I read that book about 15 years ago, not that edition, but a different copy that I have. And I was like, I'm in the classroom with Charles Haddon Spurgeon. And I really put myself, I was youth ministry professor reading that book going, I am in school with the man.
00:26:22
NextGen Matters
And I thought, wow, to have listened to him literally, literally, teach those truths that he did in those chapel services he did every week with his students.
00:26:34
NextGen Matters
And his writings live on through these books. Here's another book I got. this was This was my father's. I'm not sure where he got it, but it's actually first edition, the year 1900. It is The Life of D.L. Moody by his son.
00:26:54
NextGen Matters
D.L. passed away year before that. His son was already writing the biography of his father, and then his father passed. I'm halfway through that book. I should probably put it on my list for 2026, right?
00:27:07
NextGen Matters
Finish it from my reading. I love reading the lives of these men and women, giants of the faith, who are no longer with us.
00:27:21
NextGen Matters
I like how my friend Walt Mueller says, read the dead people. Read the dead guys. So much there. But it's not just a legacy of life to life. We are multiplying a legacy of the eternal gospel.
00:27:35
NextGen Matters
Do you see the impact that your life can have?
Stewardship of Ministry Calling
00:27:40
NextGen Matters
I also, as we bring this to a close, want to talk into us reflecting on the stewardship, reflecting upon the stewardship of our calling, reflecting upon the stewardship of our calling.
00:27:56
NextGen Matters
As we're having this metaphoric coffee and you shared with me your war stories and I shared some of mine with you, we both know that when you're in ministry, you're gonna go through it.
00:28:08
NextGen Matters
At At 19, I had no idea the war stories I would go through in the local church and even in a university setting.
00:28:19
NextGen Matters
God is always good. God's people may not always be good. And we go through some difficult times. What kept me in the game, if you will, what kept me true to the calling, even though the roles have changed, what kept me true to the calling was this.
00:28:42
NextGen Matters
I recognized that my call, m, is in lowercase.
00:28:50
NextGen Matters
My call is not capital M. My call comes from him. It's God's call on my life. I am a steward.
00:29:04
NextGen Matters
I'm a steward of that calling.
00:29:07
NextGen Matters
It is his call, and I must give an account. James 3.1, if you choose to be a teacher, you're going to be doubly judged. 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul tells those Thessalonians that those elders, as you obey them and you you lean into their leadership, they will give an account.
00:29:24
NextGen Matters
Hebrews 13, as you obey your leaders, they will give an account. It's heavy. This idea of being called in into ministry, it's God's call, and we are to guard it.
00:29:37
NextGen Matters
Let me read these verses for you. This is 2 Timothy verses and Paul the Apostle says this to Timothy.
00:29:48
NextGen Matters
What you've heard from me, keep as a pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you.
00:29:59
NextGen Matters
Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Some would think that good deposit is salvation. While salvation is a good deposit, that salvation is not the context of chapter one.
00:30:12
NextGen Matters
Chapter one's context is calling. Remember verse six, fan into flame, the gift of God, which is in you when I laid hands on you, his calling, his pastoral duties, keep as a pattern of sound teaching with faith and love.
00:30:31
NextGen Matters
You keep these things. And then he's going to go later through that whole book on your, your role of teaching others. And in fact, chapter two, verse two says that teaching others,
00:30:41
NextGen Matters
Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit. I have had to, over the years, keep forefront that my calling is not my calling.
00:30:56
NextGen Matters
It's God calling. He called me as a young 19-year-old. And until the day I die, I want to be faithful to Him and faithful to the calling He's placed in me.
00:31:10
NextGen Matters
What have you been called to do? Especially if it's in a pastoral role. What you've been called to is such an exceedingly high calling.
00:31:23
NextGen Matters
It's a divine calling. Guard it. Guard it like you would guard an expensive treasure. Because your calling by God is an expensive treasure.
00:31:38
NextGen Matters
The creator of all things. the Lord of the church. He invited you into his ministry to steward that ministry.
Sharing Your Calling Story
00:31:48
NextGen Matters
What an amazing gift we have. We have been called by God to steward well his work and his word in the lives of children and students and their families.
00:32:02
NextGen Matters
That's sweet. Now, every episode, we land with a call to action. Here's the C2A. Very simple. I want you to share your calling story with someone else.
00:32:14
NextGen Matters
This week, matter fact, next day or two, share your calling story with someone else. I would even say weave it into one of your ministry talks. How cool and rewarding would it be for you as you weave your calling story into one of your ministry talks to have a teenager, for example, walk up to you afterward and say, hey, what you were just talking about, your story, God's doing that in my life.
00:32:43
NextGen Matters
Now that's what I'm talking about.
00:32:46
NextGen Matters
That's why this next generation matters. Hey, leader, I'll wrap up with this. Your leadership matters because your ministry matters because the gospel matters.
00:32:59
NextGen Matters
That's a wrap. Episode two is now in the books. Have a great week. God bless you. And stay faithful to that calling.