The Call: Clarity - Pastor Tina Self

[00:00:00] Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold coast podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message. So my wife has got a message this morning. Amen. On clarity, the sixth movement of the call. We've been through identity, submission, formation, confirmation, commitment last week, and this week we're gonna be talking about clarity of the call. And I'd like you to welcome the minister of my house. When I take too time in the kitchen, the minister over my life, and it holds me accountable. I love you. To welcome my beautiful, excellent, awesome wife as she comes to minister this morning. Pastor Tina. [00:00:53] Amen. Let's give it up for Jesus, guys. Amen. Can we do that? Can we give a big hallelujah to that awesome, amazing, anointed worship team? Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. God is so good with that last song. I was like, wow, now I'm undone. And how am I going to preach? Well, it's wonderful to have you in the house this morning. If you're a new visitor here, can you raise your hand? We just want to acknowledge you. Amen. Amen. Thank you guys so much for joining us this morning. I see some faces that we've not seen in a moment. Stuart, good to see you here this morning. Hope you're well. Amen. Amen. Like to welcome some of our friends, Annetta and her wonderful husband here. Darcy. Darcy. Wonderful to have them in the house as well. And it's just so good to see everybody this morning when we gather together in unity. God commands a blessing. And there is a blessing here this morning. Amen. Amen. I wanted to ask you, how many people have experienced. We're not going to share testimony this morning, but if you've experienced a breakthrough this week in your life, can you just raise your hand? We just want to give God a big hallelujah. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Glory be to God. You know, God is amazing. He is the God of breakthrough. When we believe his promises, when we believe him, when we believe his report, when we believe the report of the Lord, we will see breakthrough. Amen. So I just thank God for all those breakthroughs in your life this morning. So Pastor Kyle has been preaching on the call. Last week, he spoke about the call, counting the cost. And that was a powerful message. And then he asked me this week to minister to you all on the call, Clarity. Amen. So I. I just wanna do a little recap from last week. Pastor Kyle reminded us that following Jesus, we count the cost. We count the cost to obedience. We count the Cost to surrender. There's a cost of leaving what is familiar, what may be familiar to us in that obedience. There's a cost to saying yes to God when His call disrupts our plans, maybe our comfort, or maybe our preferences. But once you've counted the cost, there's another question. Where am I going? What is God asking me to do? What is my assignment in this season? And what is God saying now? So when you count the cost and when you're firm and you're yes to God, you know, it's okay, now what God, Where, When, How? What? Because you can be surrendered to God but yet still need direction. You can be surrendered to God and need clarity on things. You can love Jesus and still need discernment. You can be willing and still need wisdom. You can be called by God and still need clarity. And that's what I'm going to speak to you about today, is clarity. And I, you know, I believe that the greatest battles that believers face today, it's not rebellion, but I think that it's confusion. There's so many voices. There's so many things that try to come at us. There's so many opinions. There's so many opportunities. There's distractions that come. There may be emotions. There's just too much noise. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, you know, what we can see versus the unseen, what we're believing for, but we're not seeing it yet. And in the midst of all of that, you're saying, but God, what are you saying? What are you speaking? And clarity does not come because God suddenly begins speaking. God is always speaking. He speaks through his word. He speaks through other believers that hear a rhema word from heaven. He speaks to our hearts. He speaks to us. He confirms His Word. God is always speaking. But I believe that clarity comes when everything competing with his voice begins losing authority in our life. Amen. When we allow the things. Because Jesus himself even said that things will come. Jesus himself even encountered things. The apostle Paul, he encountered things. There's not one person in the Bible that we can read about that did not encounter things. But it's the things that come that compete with the voice of God that needs to lose the authority in our life. Amen. So the central truth of today's message is clarity is not knowing every detail of the journey. Clarity is knowing what God has said, recognizing what he is saying now, and having the courage to obey without needing to know everything that comes next. I am one that wants to know everything that comes next. And you Know I've had to surrender that. I've had to surrender that. But I don't see it, Lord. But I don't know it, Lord. I don't know everything about it, Lord. I don't see it. But what is faith? Faith says that we walk by faith and not by sight. Faith come by hearing and hearing the word of God. Amen. So I think sometimes if we could see everything and take out the walk by faith aspect of it, I think it would really hinder us and our dependency on the Lord. And we can be called to something, but yet still need clarity. The Apostle Paul and let's go to. Let's see. I hope I gave you this scripture. I have Jack up there, so. Yep, here we go. Let's go to Acts 16, 6, 10. This is the Apostle Paul. It says now, Paul and Silas traveled through the area. Forgive me for chopping up these words. Phrygia Galatia. Because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the Word in the province of Asia at the time. Then, coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia. But again, the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. That night, Paul had a vision. A man from Macedonia, I know that one in northern Greece, was standing there pleading with him, come over to Macedonia and help us. So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the good news there. Amen. So this is the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul was already called. He had already encountered Jesus. He had surrendered his life. He had counted the cost he had suffered for the gospel he was preaching. He was planting churches, he was moving in his assignment. And yet in Acts 16, Paul needed clarity. He knew his calling, but he did not yet know his direction. So there's a difference in calling and assignment. There's a difference in calling and assignment. Your calling speaks to who you are becoming or who you are and the purpose that God has placed upon your life. Your assignment speaks to what obedience looks like right now. Amen. Your assignment speaks to what obedience looks like right now. So Paul knew he was called to preach the gospel, but the question was, where? And as you saw, all the different destinations. Is it here? Is it there? Is it here? Is it there? And then a dream come. The question was, where, to whom and when? And I believe that some of us become frustrated because we know God has called us, but we do not yet have clarity concerning the season that we Are in an uncertainty in your season does not mean that you've lost your calling. It does not mean you've lost your calling. It means you must remain close enough to him, to God to be led by him. And see, a lot of times what happens is because we want to know. We want to know, we want to know. And it's like, oh, my calling is over because of this or that. Not true. The uncertainty will try to talk, and we give authority to that uncertainty. But we only need to allow him to have the authority in our life. Amen. And we must remain close enough to him to be led. Romans 8:14 says, for as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Notice the language here. It says, led by the spirit of God. Being led means I do not always choose the route. We don't choose the route. It's not us that chooses the route. It is us that is led by the spirit of God. Being led means someone else determines the direction, and it should be him determining that. Being led means I remain sensitive enough to recognize when God says, go. [00:13:16] Stop. [00:13:18] Wait. Stay. Not yet. Not there. The question isn't, am I called? The question is, am I still allowing God to lead me? Amen. Am I still allowing God to lead me? I mean, clarity begins with surrender. But here in Acts 16 that we just read, it tells us that Paul and his companions were traveling. They were moving, they were serving, they were preaching, they were available. But what makes Paul powerful in this passage is that he was willing to allow God to interrupt his plans. Paul had an idea. God had direction. Paul had a plan. God had an assignment. And when the two of those collided, Paul had to decide which one would have the authority in his life. Amen. Clarity begins when we surrender our need to control the answer. I mean, I get it because sometimes we say, God, show me your will. God, show me your direction. But what we really mean is, God, confirm my preference. God, show me your will. As long as it looks like what I want, God, speak clearly. As long as you did not tell me to stay, God opened the door. As long as it's the door I've already chosen, God used me. As long as the assignment comes with recognition, comfort increase, and applause, Clarity requires surrender of preference. You know Proverbs 3, 5, 6. I love this scripture. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will and all that you do, and he will show you which path to take. Amen. He shall direct your path. You know, I think Of Abraham. When God, God told Abraham, go and sacrifice your son. Take your son up on the mountain as an act of worship. Go and sacrifice your son. And here comes Abraham. Okay, son, let's go. Can you imagine if Abraham was not listening to God as he went? Did God change his mind? No. God needed obedience. God needed surrender. So when we obey and when we surrender and when we are listening to his voice, we are in that rhythm. We are in that rhythm of clarity. We are in that rhythm, that heartbeat of heaven, that heartbeat of purpose and clarity comes. Amen. He shall direct your path. But before direction comes, surrender. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Do not lean to your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all of your ways, and he shall direct your path. We cannot ask God to direct our life. If we refuse to surrender. Our prayer has to change. From God, bless what I've decided to God, I belong to you. Lead me wherever you desire. Lead me to your plans. Lead me on your path. Lead me according to your will. You know, as I wrote this and was studying this out, I was like, you know, Kyle and I did not see the plan. We did not see the path. We knew in the moments when God spoke and we tucked it in our heart. But yet we kept serving. We kept giving, we kept moving, we kept doing. I remember times that Kyle would say, there's more, honey. I just don't know what it is, but there's more to come. And we were just faithful, serving, faithful, serving, faithful, serving. You know, we made decisions that was hard for us, you know? And I remember a church that we loved. And we made the decision God led us to leave it. And it was like, wow, what now? I rang North Carolina back. Cause it was a state away. And I was like, oh, I'm gonna go back to my corporate job and we'll find a church to go to. And called my mom, do you have a rental? And all of this stuff? And big God had other plans. He had opened a door. Some of you may or may not know this. God gave us a home with everything in it. And I'm like, whoa, what now? I didn't expect this. What now? You know? And then we ended up going to another church. And I told Kyle, I said, well, we're not going to be here very long. And he's like, oh, you know, no. Well, then the door opened. Cause we obeyed and we surrendered. The door opened, and it led us to world changers. You know, world changers led us to Australia. That the Lord spoke to Kyle when Alex was a baby. Crying in the back of the car, driving home from a revival. In that moment of a crying baby screaming, Kyle goes, when America gets bad, God's going to move us to Australia. When? What is wrong with you? All of that was so new to me. We were just freshly saved. And then a year before, he said, I'm called into ministry. What now? Australia? Like, really? You've lost it. Hello, people. Here we are. God, I belong to you. Lead me wherever you desire. Acts 16:6 says they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia. Think about it. Paul wanted and knew that he was to preach the gospel. That's a good thing, right? To preach the gospel. That's a biblical thing. That's a kingdom thing. Yet the Holy Spirit said no. I think this teaches us something important. Not every good opportunity is a God assignment. Amen. Not every good opportunity is a God assignment. Something can be good and still God may say it's not for you. Something can be biblical and still not your assignment. Something can be successful and still not where the Holy Spirit is leading you. Amen. We celebrate when God says go. But spiritual maturity is also learning to recognize when God says, no, not now, not there, not this verse seven says, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them twice. Two doors, two directions, two restraints. Paul could have become offended. What? I can't go there. God, I thought you called me. I thought you wanted me to preach. Why are you stopping me? God? But God understood something. A closed door does not mean that God has abandoned you. Sometimes a closed door is how God gives direction. Sometimes God's restraint is actually God's protection. Sometimes God's no is keeping you available for God's greater yes. We often say and look for the more. We often look for the more. But is it God's more for you? Amen. And we need discernment because not every closed door is spiritual warfare. Some doors were rebuking the devil over thinking that they're closed. Some things were trying to force open what God has intentionally shut some places. We are trying to remain. God has already said, move. Revelations 3:7 says that Jesus opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens. We need the spiritual sensitivity to ask Holy Spirit, are you opening this door? Are you closing this door? Am I supposed to fight for this or am I supposed to release this? Amen. You know, we. I mean, walking by. Faith is essential to the call of God on your life. It's essential. Paul tried Asia. Nope. Paul tried Bithynia. Nope. Then he arrived in Troas something important. Troas was not the. The destination. Troas was the place between the closed door and the clear instruction. We struggle there. The closed door and clear instruction. Sometimes we struggle there, the last door closed, but the next instruction has not come yet. Amen. Troas is the waiting room of clarity. And we don't like waiting rooms. Hello. We don't like waiting rooms. I mean, in some regard we feel like we've been in a ten year waiting room. A waiting room. And then all of a sudden, bam. Things seem so clear. The last year, the greatest clarity, like never before. Clarity is the ability to see, to hear, to know, and to believe in it. Amen. You know, a 20 year vision I remember in a little town called Dacusville, South Carolina. Riley can attest to in the little bitty town, we were interim pastors living in a little parsonage. And it was there that I received a vision of a community center. I wish I had the paper. I drew it out. Every little car park too. A healing garden, all these things. And I said, I don't know how or what, but we will do this. One day we come to Australia and it's like, okay, Australia, planting a church. And then we realized it's hard to get a building as a religious house of place of worship here. And it's like, okay, launch the charity. Hmm. All right, God. It's a community center that houses the church. We. Wow. Working seven days a week. Wow, God. Last year, Kyle was commissioned with someone to go to Melbourne to learn all about a winter initiative. He went into another charity thinking he was helping or potentially putting Jesus in was trois. It was the waiting room. God was defining, refining, he was gaining wisdom. Clarity came and then shortly after, out of that, birthed a charity called City Reach. We are walking by faith and not by sight. We are walking by faith to where the unseen is becoming seen. And I'm like, I don't know how this is happening other than God. This is you. I'm making no phone calls in the intake process, the front end process. Referrals are coming in, in crisis. We are allowing them to sleep on a Friday night. Here comes Uniting Care, another agency back end for referral pathways and mental health and potential housing. And I'm going to. I don't know God. I don't know God, but you do. And meanwhile, as all the unseen is becoming seen, I'm sitting and having dinner with the homeless people. They're laughing, they're saying, I didn't Drink today so I could come and sleep. They're starting to share things. They're starting to get mental help. They're starting to do things and I'm sitting around like they're cracking jokes and they have no home. They're not whinging. They're not complaining. They're not this. They're like present Trying on slippers with little croissants on it, putting on little wigs, putting on like, it is great, but the unseen becoming seen. Because we allowed surrender. We allowed surren. We gave it time. Knowing that, Lord, it would be in your time and not in my timing. I'm not going to push a door open and any closed door, I'm going to allow it to close. Surrender and hearing his voice. Now move. We want timelines. We want answers. We want God to explain himself. But sometimes God allows us to remain between instructions because he is teaching us how to trust his presence. How to trust his presence when we do not have his explanation. Abraham. Come on, Isaac, up the mountain. We're gonna worship God and sacrifice. Abraham knew who the sacrifice would be, but he also knew the presence of God. And he was in tune to his voice as he was going. And then when God said, or the angel of the Lord said no. [00:29:51] Whew. [00:29:52] That's the moment that things changed. He was surrendered. He was obedient. He wasn't looking for a timeline. He was trusting. Amen. Isaiah 40:31 says, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. We think waiting is an activity. We think waiting is futile. We think waiting is pointless. But waiting is not inactivity. Waiting is active trust. Waiting is trust and action. Waiting says, I will not manufacture an answer because God has not spoken yet. Waiting says, I will not force a door because I am uncomfortable with uncertainty. Waiting says, I will not run ahead of God because waiting makes me anxious. Amen. Do not ever allow impatience to create an Ishmael and Ishmael. An Ishmael would give you lots of issues. But the promises of God. The promises of God. The Isaac, watch out now. What'd you say? So I don't know who I'm preaching to this morning. I hope it all has made sense. But I will say this. If God has not spoken, stay close to him. If God hasn't spoken, stay close to him. If God has not spoken, stay faithful to him. If God hasn't spoken, stay prayerful. Communicate with him. Trust him. Stay obedient. Keep serving. Keep worshiping him. Keep listening to him. Because troas was not abandonment, it Was positioning. It was positioning. Amen. Paul kept moving. He kept taking the next step. He kept obeying the last instruction. And then when Clarity came, Acts 16, 9, it says, a vision appeared to Paul in the night. It came. Clarity came. Clarity came. Clarity came. It was his voice. It wasn't a voice of fear. It wasn't a voice of offense. It wasn't a voice of disappointment. It wasn't even a voice of ambition. It wasn't a voice of urgency. It wasn't a voice of comparison. It wasn't a voice of a social media trend. It wasn't the voice of money. It wasn't even the voice of other people's expectation. It was God's voice. John 10:27 says, My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. We have to be still and know that he is God. Be still and know that he is God. Be still and know that he is God. Amen. After the vision, Paul understood that. That God was calling them to Macedonia, that God did not tell Paul everything that would happen there. PK and I often say, if we would have known what Australia would have been like, what decision would you have made? And oftentimes I say, no, no, no. Nope. But, you know, I look and I think upon the moments with precious people that I can go into their home and sit with them and bear their burden. To sit with them, to talk about Jesus the whole time, to laugh and to forget about the next task or the next thing, but to sit and be about my Father's business, to be here and see marriages, marriages that were trying to be destroyed by the enemy, but to see restoration happen, to come and see people's lives changed, to come and have a night of worship. Where is he? To see a young man come in. Where's Clarence? Where's my friends? Back left. There we go. There we go. To see my friend come for a night of worship for the first time and give his life to Jesus. Amen. I mean, I don't know. I don't know how you came in, but what I do know is when you left, you were a different person. And that's because of Jesus and the blood that he shed and the sacrifice that he made on the cross for you so that you can be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Amen, man. And all the other things, I don't even know. There's so much. But to think about all that God has done. Clarity is not certainty about outcomes. Clarity is about the assignment. It's about the surrender. It's about the Obedience. It's all about God. Jesus said it best. About my father's business. I'm about my father's business. The disciples often didn't understand. People didn't understand, but Jesus, I'm about my father's business. Hebrews 11:8 says, talking about faith, faith doesn't require full disclosure. Faith doesn't require full information. Faith requires a trustworthy God that is faithful to his promises. Hebrews 11. 8 says, it was by faith that Abraham obeyed. God obeyed. When God called him to leave home and to go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance, he went without knowing where he was going. This was Abraham. Abraham went without knowing where he was going. You know, in our journey, we didn't know. We didn't know where we were gonna live. We didn't have a car to drive. We knew no one. We didn't know how many people were in the church. We didn't know where the boys were gonna go to school. We knew nothing other than God said, go. And God being God, exceedingly, abundantly more than what you could ever ask, think or imagine. I now have my beautiful daughter. She's like my daughter. And a beautiful grandbaby on the way. The inheritance of God in another land. Exceedingly, abundantly more than what I could ever think of or imagine. All of you here this morning. Exceedingly, abundantly more than I could have ever thought or even imagined. Amen. God is so good. Acts 16:10 says, Immediately we sought to go to Macedonia immediately. Once they had clarity, they moved. They did not delay. They did not negotiate. They did not ask God for seven more confirmations. They did not spend six months discussing if it's obedience or if the obedience was convenient or not. They moved. James 1:22 says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only. When God says it, we need to do it. Amen. So, church last week. We counted the cost, and I believe we settled that question this week. Where are you leading me, Lord? Where are you leading me, Lord? God's not abandoned you. God's not abandoned you. Some of you may be in trust. The old season has ended. Wait. Listen. Remain faithful. Some of you already know what God has said. The issue is not clarity. Maybe it's obedience. Maybe it's surrender. You've prayed. You may or may not have sought wise counsel. We are a firm believer in wise counsel. Come to the pastoral team here. Seek out wise counsel. Sit down with them and say, you know, this is what I'm thinking. Believing, praying, this is what God has said. Get wise counsel in a multitude of wise counsel, we will have good success. That's the Bible. Amen. You searched the scriptures, you felt the Holy Spirit. Now God is saying what he is saying to you. Amen. So I want to ask you three questions. What has God already said? What is competing with his voice? And what is your next act of obedience? What is the next step? So let's do this with everybody, if you don't mind, just to stand for a moment. We're just going to pray. We're just going to pray all together. We're just going to pray together. Amen. You know, this moment right now is just between you and the Lord. Between you and the Lord. Amen. I just want you to lift your heart to him. And Father, bless these wonderful, amazing people in this house. Father. Father, I thank you as your word says that we are trusting in you with our whole heart and leaning not to our own understanding. Father, we are acknowledging you by simply asking, lord, what would you have me to do? And we know, Father, that you will direct our path. Father, I thank you, Lord, that we surrender our preference. We silence competing voices and we refuse to allow fear to make any decisions. Father, thank you. Thank you that we remain sensitive to your spirit and your voice. Father, we trust in you even in times of uncertainty. Father, we thank you that we receive your direction and we obey your instructions. Father, thank you for these beautiful people here this morning. I pray, Lord, that your spirit continues to teach them, to give them revelation. Father. And for those that are searching, Father, I pray that they encounter you like never before. God and Father, I thank you for this morning and I give you all the glory. It's in Jesus name I pray. Amen and amen and amen. [00:43:53] Amen. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise. Amen. I'll bring that for you, Pastor T. I think I fell in love with her again. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. That was one of the best messages I have heard in a long time on clarity. Some of you, I believe today have received answers about, yeah, that's it. I've actually been not liking this waiting period. I haven't liked this moment of God saying no. And you know, man, I know what that feels like. 25 years of taking the next step, 25 years of just putting one foot in front of the other, 25 years of going, lord, this feels like a weather map, not a road map. And I can tell you right now, it is a weather map. There's a destination, but you don't always know the road. You're taking to get there. People are variables and sometimes it shifts and you gotta get comfortable with the change because if you get stuck and I gotta figure this out, you don't ever get to the place where I've gotta adjust where the Holy Spirit is going. And that was a beautiful message on that this morning. Amen. Amen. Now we're going to seal something for those of you I just want you with confidence to raise your hand if that spoke to you this morning. So, Pastor Tina, you might want to look around. Amen. Father, we thank you for the clarity that you've given into our lives. We thank you for the leading of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for the message that guides and directs as ministers are supposed to do. But we thank you that we point to you and say, lord, continue to show me the peace in the next step, the surrender in the next step, the light for the next step. It's in Jesus name we pray and we all say Amen. Now we'll never leave this place without being sure. If you've already raised your hand for salvation, you don't have to raise it again. But maybe you're here this morning and you don't have to know the Lord Jesus. So every head bowed, every eye closed, if you're here this morning and you want to receive him as your Lord and Savior, can you just lift your hand up real high so I can pray for you? Amen. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for the hand. Let's pray this together and pray this with me for my brother that raised his hand. Father, I receive you as my Lord and Savior. I speak it with my mouth and I believe it in my heart. I repent of my sins. I accept you as my Lord, my Savior, my friend, my master, my guide. I thank you, Lord for this salvation today. In Jesus name, Amen and Amen. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise for the salvation that took place in the house. Amen. Thank you for tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more, you can reach us online at worldchangers Life. Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team and may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.