 This is the season now is the time if you've been saying within yourself I want to do something for God. I want God to use me for the glory if his son Jesus But I just don't know how to take that next step. I don't know where to go from passion to Destination well, we're gonna be beginning a new series This series is entitled God's anointed and we're going to be looking at the great men and women of God We've got anointed and used with the power of the Holy Spirit and we're going to be gleaning from their lives Truths that will apply to the call of God on our lives also So Steven Mock the zoomer is here with me as usual He's gonna lead you in worship and then we're going to get right into this lesson and I truly do believe now Is the time you're not watching this by accident? God has called you God wants to use you God has anointed you He's given you a purpose and I believe that this series and particularly beginning with this message This is going to position you to be used by God such as you never knew possible here is Steven Mock the zoomer The more I seek you The more I find you Or I seek you the more I find you Or I find you love is so deep It's more than I can stand I'm out in your peace. It's over Sit at your feet drink from this love is so deep It's more than I can stand out in your peace It's over when I had your feet drink from the cup this love is so I can stand I'm out in your peace. It's over when I sit at your feet drink from the cup is so deep It's more than I can stand I'm out in your peace I really do sense the anointing of the Holy Spirit and I'm excited because I truly believe that God wants to use your life and Many people write to me all the time asking What's the next step that I need to take? They tell me that they want to be used by God They believe that God has put gifts in them that God has called them to preach the gospel to teach to serve to work in the ministry and Just to minister as a believer all believers really are called to the ministry in one way or another And so I'm excited because I finally get to go through Peace by peace detail by detail and give you biblical truths Gleaned from the life of powerful men and women of God that will bless your life That will guide your life and that will transform your life, and I really do believe That this series is gonna cause you to be positioned to be used by God I'm excited for you because I know there's an anointing on your life So in this lesson we're gonna be looking at Paul the Apostle So go with me to Acts chapter 9 and I really really am thrilled to be teaching this I hope you can sense that coming through. I'm expecting God to do something with this message I'm expecting there to be a transformed life Something's gonna happen for you something's gonna happen to you as you go through this series with me and It's going to be powerful the anointing of the Holy Spirit is here. He's anointed this I can sense it. So go with me to Acts chapter 9 Acts chapter 9 and we're going to read all of it Down to verse 19 Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 19 so we're gonna read all of the context and then we're gonna go through verse by verse and we're gonna pull out truths that you May have missed and we're gonna look at who was formerly Saul now Paul the Apostle and we're going to see how God used him Okay, so go to Acts chapter 9 Beginning at verse number 1 the scripture says Meanwhile Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers So he went to the high priest He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus asking for their cooperation In the arrest of any followers of the way he found there He wanted to bring them both men and women back to Jerusalem in chains As he was approaching Damascus on this mission a Light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him Saul Saul Why are you persecuting me? Who are you Lord Saul asked and the voice replied I am Jesus the one you are persecuting Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do The men with Saul stood speechless for they heard the sound of someone's voice, but saw no one Saul picked himself up off the ground But when he opened his eyes, he was blind So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias The Lord spoke to him in a vision calling Ananias Yes, Lord. He replied The Lord said go over to Straight Street to the house of Judas when you get there ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias Coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again But Lord exclaimed Ananias I've heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name But the Lord said go for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings as Well as to the people of Israel and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake So Ananias went and found Saul He laid his hands on him and said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road has sent me so that you Might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit Instantly something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he regained his sight then he got up and was baptized afterward he ate some food and regained his sight So number one, I want to look at verses number one and two This is where we see that Saul was uttering threats against the believers. He was persecuting the church He was locking them up in prisons and putting them in chains and Coming against them for the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ Saul was passionate about what he was doing so number one The call of God is about God's will Not your dreams Now I know I have said in the past that your purpose is linked with your passion And I still do believe that God will give you certain passions that will be used in the call God will give you certain gifts and certain desires and certain abilities that he has purposely placed there that you might use Them to complete the work that he has given you specifically to complete So I do believe that your purpose is linked with your passion, but while your purpose is linked with your passions Your passions are meant to serve the call of God not replace it Saul had good intentions Saul was passionate about what he was doing, but that didn't mean that it was truly of God now you may say but what Saul was doing was Actually evil it was actually wrong and I do agree with that what Saul was doing was actually wrong But the truth is that he thought he was doing it for God The truth is that his intentions were good. He was passionate About the things of God in fact the scripture tells us in Philippians chapter 3 verses 2 through 8 Watch out for those dogs those people who do evil those mutilators who say you must be Circumcised to be saved For we who worship by the spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort no confidence in the flesh Though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could Indeed if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more now Let's stop there for a second Paul the Apostle was writing to the Philippians talking about His former commitment as a Pharisee and he was saying that if anybody could brag upon what they had done It was him so go back now to verse number five and the scripture says and this is him telling the people about his accomplishments I was circumcised when I was eight days old I am a pure blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin a real Hebrew if there ever was one I was a member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church and as for righteousness. I obeyed the law without fault I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord For his sake I have discarded everything else counting it all as Garbage so that I could gain Christ Saul was a dedicated Pharisee And he was passionate about it But that doesn't mean that it was the call of God What he was doing though it was technically meant for God Was actually working against the will of God and so this is why God had to disrupt Saul on His way to Damascus now. I have a friend who was a marketing executive. He was making very good money Doing marketing and helping people strategize for getting their message out there He was on his way to work one day when he saw a homeless man by the road who needed help And so my friend stopped and helped this homeless man and then began to head back toward work in the Lord Stopped them right there and said that's what I've called you to do. I've called you to reach to people I've called you to minister the gospel and that day led by the Holy Spirit. He quit his job and Of course, you have to hear the voice of God to do something like that, but he's in the ministry today your purpose Though it is linked with your passion is Ultimately about the call of God the will of God and not your own desires So that's number one the call is about God's will not your dreams though Saul was a Pharisee though He was passionate about persecuting the church He still was not in the will of God number two We draw from verses three and four Where the scripture says as he was approaching Damascus on this mission a light from heaven suddenly shown down around him He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me? The call of God number two the call of God is Sudden and disruptive It will require that you drop everything that you're doing Paul mentioned that he counted everything he had as we just read in Philippians as Garbage compared to what he had gained in Christ But at one point what he had was valuable to him God did not come at a convenient time for Paul the apostle God did not reveal himself in a place where Saul was asking for God to be revealed God simply showed up knocked him off of his horse and asked him Why are you persecuting me and from that moment on the trajectory of Saul's life was completely changed God had disrupted the plans of Saul and even changed his name to Paul and changed his nature God will disrupt things in your life God will suddenly come and move things around. This is what he does when he calls someone now I went into the ministry during my teen years Most teens don't even want to live the Christian life when they're teenagers Let alone join the ministry or go into the ministry Matthew chapter 4 verses 19 through 20 the scripture says Jesus called out to them Come follow me and I will show you how to fish for people and They left their nets at once and Followed him that was the call of the disciples They left their nets at once and They came to Jesus Luke chapter 9 verse 62 says but Jesus told him Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God Saul was knocked off his horse. He was still heading to the same place Damascus, but his intentions now were different Some people just can't be bothered Jesus calls to them. He says preach the gospel teach the word Serve work give yourself to the ministry. He calls us to reach the broken and the desperate He calls us to reach the loss He calls us to give our lives lay down our lives that we might serve his purpose But some just cannot be bothered Jesus calls Are you responding? Jesus calls. Are you listening or do you say Lord? I have other things to do Lord, I'm busy Lord. I'm comfortable. I like my job security. I have family responsibilities I'm comfortable in the city in which I live. I have everything that I need Let me tell you something the call of God is disruptive It is sudden and it is disruptive. It will shake things in your life God doesn't wait on you you wait on God God should not be standing around Waiting for you to do something You must get up and do something. He's calling you Don't let comfort Keep you where you are. Don't let security keep you where you are Don't let fear prevent you from pursuing the call of God on your life The call of God is sudden and it is disruptive number three We glean from verses five through eight where the scripture says who are you Lord Saul asked and the voice replied I am Jesus the one you are persecuting now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do The men with Saul stood speechless for they heard the sound of someone's voice But saw no one Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes He was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus number three God reveals the vision To those who respond to his voice God reveals the vision to those who respond to his voice the men standing next to Saul look at this I want you I want to point this out to you. Look at what the scripture says in verse seven The men with Saul stood speechless for they heard the sound of someone's voice, but saw no one In other words these people who were with Saul they heard Jesus, but they could not see him They heard a voice, but they could not see the light The truth is God speaks to all But he only reveals himself to the few who respond to his call Those men could hear him calling, but they could not see him because they were not responding to the voice Saul Responded he said who are you Lord and I love it because he doesn't know who he is But Jesus had such an authority About his demeanor. He had such power about his countenance that Saul even though he didn't know who Jesus was Saw enough authority on Jesus that he knew he needed to call him a Lord Who are you Lord? And so Saul Saw the light He witnessed the appearance of the Lord the other men around him Could not see it the truth is not everyone will see what you see Because not everyone responds to the voice They were there and he was blind They helped him But they could not understand him There are those who will come around that may be able to help you in The call they may be able to assist you in the ministry, but that doesn't mean they will always be able to understand you Not even your friends and family will understand the call of God on your life Unless they too are spirit led they'll ask why do you go to church so much? Why do you pray? Why do you live a life of faith? Why are you always talking about Jesus? The scripture says in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verses 14 through 16 But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's spirit It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it for only those who are spiritual can understand what the spirit means Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others For who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him, but we understand these things for we have the mind of Christ Do not expect non-believers to understand the call of God on your life In fact, don't even expect all believers to understand the call of God upon your life They may hear the voice themselves. They may be called by God. God may be drawing them God may be touching their heart and trying to get them to respond to him But until they've responded they won't see what you see. They won't see the light They won't see the vision. They may hear the voice. They may have God calling unto them But until they've responded and yielded to the voice of the Holy Spirit They themselves will never understand the call of God upon your life and you just have to accept it So that's number three God reveals the vision to those who respond to his voice the men standing next to Saul heard the voice But they could not see You can see because you've responded to the voice Point number four is gleaned from verse number nine and verse number nine says He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink So number four in order to see God's vision you have to lose yours You won't always see the full picture But you need to trust the Lord if you're gonna be called by God You're gonna have to give up trying to see things by your vision when I was 11 years old God showed me the destination. I remember very clearly. He showed me that I would have a television ministry He showed me that it would be a healing ministry He showed me that it would be evangelistic at its very core and that it would be about winning souls and building the believers God showed all that to me when I was 11. I saw the destination But I never saw the journey. I had to live the journey and the journey is Lived by faith You may be able to get a vision. You may be able to see the destination You may be able to look at where God wants you to go You may be able to have an idea of what he's called you to do But though he will show you the what he will not always show you the how in fact He rarely ever shows you the how this is why we must lose our vision to gain his the scripture says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7 for we walk by faith Not by sight there are no guarantees We want certainty we want guarantees from the Lord, but he doesn't give us that instead. He asks that we trust him You say Lord you've called me to this city to preach you've called me to start that church You've called me to start that business You've called me to step out in faith and begin doing this work But I don't see how it's all going to work out and that's exactly where he wants you to be He wants you to take that first step I love what Paul Crouch the founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network said he said faith is walking to the edge of the light you have and Then taking one more step people tend to want answers right away They want to know with certainty what the journey will be with the call of God. It's by faith Let me tell you something If there was no risk involved there would be no faith needed and If there's no faith that is needed then there's no glory that is brought to the Lord The reason it needs to be risky and the reason it needs to require faith is so that Jesus and Jesus alone can receive the glory So that's number four in order to see God's vision You have to lose yours and finally number five. This is gleaned from verses 10 through 19 Where we see that Saul is connected to Ananias now What's interesting here is that Ananias doesn't even want to connect with Saul He says Lord, that's the man who persecutes Christians and he has the authority to do it The Lord says never mind that I've called him go to him and pray for him that he might receive his sight And so God speaks to both Ananias and Saul about their meeting with each other now I often hear preachers say two things on the extreme of the spectrum So so here's what they'll say. They'll say one of two things They'll say your destiny is not linked to anyone or your destiny is not tied to anyone and then on the other hand There are preachers who emphasize that you cannot fulfill the call of God unless you stay connected to them now first of all Your destiny is linked to key people. That's just the fact Some people God sends for a season and there are some people that God sends to you for a lifetime But the truth is that God does link you with key people for the to fulfill the call of God in life Look, you can't fulfill the call of God on your own Many people want to do things on their own so they can receive more credit or feel more accomplished But even in the world even in the secular world Nobody accomplishes really anything without someone else's help and Second you'll hear the preachers tell people things like your destiny is tied to me or oh if you leave my church You're leaving the will of God and the truth is this is just manipulation now that may be now for an instance I know for a fact beyond all doubt that I personally am Linked with my pastor and I've seen that link my pastor does not abuse his pastoral authority But I've seen men of God Way people down with guilt way people down with manipulation and way people down to try to control them through their emotions and through What they would dub as conviction, but it really is not conviction when it's born of the flesh Conviction is born of the spirit. So they'll say you're tied to me You can't go anywhere if you leave me you're outside of the will of God. That is manipulation Okay, a real man of God who really knows that someone's tied to them isn't necessarily going to put pressure on that point So avoid both extremes of what you believe don't believe that If God hasn't linked you with someone don't allow them to manipulate you into believing that and at the same time Also realize that you can't do this alone. So there are balances to these things So the company you keep the point I'm trying to make the company you keep can either enhance or corrupt the anointing upon your life Divine Disconnections are just as important as divine connections. I want to say that again because someone needs to hear that Divine Disconnections are just as important as divine connections Some of you need to be delivered not from demons, but from manipulative people The scripture says in 1st John chapter 2 verse 19 These people left our churches, but they never really belong with us Otherwise, they would have stayed with us when they left it proved that they did not belong with us 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 33 says Don't be fooled by those who say such things for bad company corrupts good character God connected Saul with Ananias and again as I said Ananias didn't even really want to connect with Saul You don't have to beg people to connect with you You don't have to beg people to be loyal to you You don't have to beg people to give themselves to the vision that God has shown you God will connect you with the right people. I have people coming up to me all the time who say I didn't even really like you but God told me to connect with you or I didn't really like you But I watched your stuff anyway. In fact, I had one time some guy told me I didn't even really like you but God told me to give you this and he gave me $14,000 in cash for the ministry So it doesn't matter if they like you or not It doesn't matter if if they want to disconnect from you or not if it's God's divine connection He will pull it together. You don't have to force it So I think of all the people that the Lord has connected me with I think of my pastor. I think of my spiritual Parents spiritual mothers and spiritual fathers. I think of people who've inspired me through personal relationship and people by whom I've been inspired from a distance But either way God has brought me all the right people So let's just recap these notes Number one The call is about God's will not your dreams Number two The call of God is sudden and disruptive Number three God reveals the vision to those who respond to his voice Number four in order to see God's vision You have to lose yours and number five the call of God requires divine connection Or divine connections I want to pray with you now We learned a lot from paul the apostle and i'm excited about this series But I want to pray with you now Let's believe that God will put the word in your heart in such a way That you receive it. Let's pray that this word will grow At the seeds I planted today will not be pulled up will not be snatched But that they will go deep and they will take root and they will grow and bear fruit So I want you to lift your hands right where you are and ask Jesus Come on really ask them Ask Jesus to help you receive everything that you were just taught Lord, I pray for that one who's receiving this prayer now Father, I ask that you would cause this word to take root That it would not be snatched up by the evil one But lord that the word would take root Go deep and bear fruit Jesus, I pray that the call of god that is on This one right now who's receiving this prayer would be revealed with perfect clarity Help us to cast off all the restraints that would keep us from pursuing you jesus Give us the grace to pursue all that you have called us to do In jesus name we pray I want you to say it if you believe it say Amen. Well, that is it for the lesson. I want to welcome now the new members of spirit church There you are up on the screen. We love you. We are praying for you I always say it because I always mean it If you like information on how you could join the spirit family then go ahead and go to David Hernandez ministries.com Slash spirit church there you can sign up to become a spirit church member Spirit church membership is absolutely free though. We do encourage you to also become a monthly ministry supporter But you get a weekly email from me I send you the teachings and you also get special updates and we stay connected through that So I believe we have almost 2000 members now from all around the world Thank you to those who are part of the spirit family. We love you I want to get to your comments now And remember stick around until the end after i'm done reading your comments because I want to talk to you about something But these comments were left on last week's video, which was entitled abiding in the spirit Sneamath on C writes Amen, this is exactly what I needed to hear. He is faithful to minister his word As a teen pastor david and michael she's talking to my brother god has used you to be a blessing in my life Praise god I am encouraged to abide in the vine praise god watching from south africa This ministry is blessed and I thank you for watching all the way from south africa And I was told that you are a ministry partner. So i want to thank you for your support of this ministry Connie dw shore writes david i'm amazed at your teachings I had bookmark john 15 this whole week and was reading it daily because i've been trying to glean revelation from it I opened up your video and it was about the very thing I have been seeking I shouldn't have been surprised because more often than not your sermons are amazingly Relevant to my walk with christ god bless you and thank you You know when i'm putting together a message for a spirit church or encounter tv or when i'm preaching anywhere I will sit and just meditate upon the word and I say lord give me the words What do you want to speak to your people? Give me something that when I speak it they will say this is just what I needed to hear in this season And so we often hear from people that was just what I needed to hear And that's because it's all by the holy spirit and all the glory belongs to jesus Movie time with toby writes god bless you. I needed this word in my life Dexter via writes thank you for this I thank god for allowing us to watch your videos It is my privilege to say thank you for your powerful messages that god wants their children to hear Thank you for this god bless you Jasmine Coleman says I've been feeling so exhausted sadly in my ministry I have a much better understanding of why now Thank you for praying over those who have been giving from themselves and not the spirit I suddenly felt god's peace come over me And strength to get on my knees and start digging the well Now if you're wondering what she means by digging the well then go watch that teaching abiding in the spirit I talk about abiding in the vine really You know many of us give of ourselves And because of that we become exhausted we become cynical we become tired we come dry When really god wants us to give from a deeper well the spirit And when you're giving from the spirit you're not giving from your own effort You're giving from the overflow of the anointing of god on your life And you don't grow weary you get energized from the anointing The final commenter writes this is such a timely preaching for what I am going through now pastor David Indeed doing ministry without abiding in the ultimate source is so exhausting and tiring Doing ministry for god should not be a burden for us. Thank you so much more blessings and favors to your ministry glory to god And all the glory does certainly belong to jesus. I want to talk to you now. Listen You know, we've been doing this ministry campaign to help expand the ministry into the new level of ministry And really I want to stress this to you Everything we do is about winning souls and bringing glory to jesus Our ministry is focused on winning souls by doing two things evangelism and the building of the believer Through direct evangelism we present the gospel to people and they accept christ after hearing the message through building the believer we are Multiplying our efforts by causing others to receive from the lord in such a way That they themselves go out and start winning souls so Winning souls and building the believer Is all a part of ultimately winning the lost which is what the lord has called us to do Now we do this the two things media, which is television videos podcast books and events We want to take both of our media Departments and our event departments both of those departments and we want to take them to the next level And this is where we need your help We need a thousand new thirty dollar a month partners and as you can see here We are well over the halfway mark When we get to that one thousand mark of a thousand new thirty dollar a month partners not thirty thirty dollar one time Gives thirty dollar monthly gifts When we get to that level, we're going to be able to get a new facility And from that facility we'll do more live broadcasts. We'll produce more media for television and the internet We'll have a 24 seven prayer room. We'll begin doing weekly meetings. It's going to be awesome We will even bring you in for studio audiences. Okay But the other thing we're going to be able to do Is more events in more locations more often Talk about going and doing miracle services where we win the lost So help us do that today become a thirty dollar a month supporter of our ministry Become a thirty dollar a month supporter of our ministry and you can request either carriers of the glory or 25 truths about demons and spiritual warfare Either one of those books. I know we'll bless you. Look, I know you don't do it for the gift We want to give you like an initiation gift just to say thank you So sign up to become a thirty dollar a month supporter If you're watching this on youtube, wait until the end of the video where the link will appear if you're watching this anywhere else I'm sure we've put a link somewhere around you But listen, I want to challenge you to do this. You've been watching you've been receiving If just half the people Who watch this right now will sign up to become a thirty dollar a month partner. We're done We can close this up and we can go back to just regular fundraising and we can finish up this campaign So do it today again if you're watching it on youtube This video is going to appear right after i'm done and if you're watching it anywhere else again look for a link anywhere in the E vicinity so That is it for this edition of spirit church until next time remember Nothing is impossible with god Thank you for watching encounter tv. Don't forget to subscribe Also, help me win souls by spreading the gospel through events and media Make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now