There are some 1500 Calvary Chapel churches around the world. That’s 1500 men who teach the Bible every week.
At this conference, many of the speakers are not the “popular” guys that have spoken in years past. It is always a blessing to hear men like Greg Laurie, Levi Lusko, Joe Focht, and Damien Kyle.
But I am glad to hear from some new voices of pastors who are being used by Jesus. One of those, is Jim Gallagher, who pastors Calvary Chapel Vero Beach, Florida.
In his opening session of the conference, Jim reminded us that the people of Israel had times throughout the year where they got together to worship the Lord and look into His word. These were often times of
personal repentance and national revival. That’s what this conference is about.
Speaking about our calling, Jim shared a message from Mark 3:13-19, looking at how the twelve disciples were called, who was called, and what they were called to.
Here’s some points he brought out.
How they were called
Before calling His disciples, Jesus spent the night in prayer. He did not go to Rome, which were the greatest builders in His time, to find the builders for his church. He went to His Father.
This is a huge point as it is a reoccurring problem in scripture for leaders not to seek the Lord. Joshua failed to inquire of the Lord when the Gibeonites came into the camp. David failed to inquire of the Lord when he brought the ark into Jerusalem, Rehoboam failed to ask the Lord, but instead sought advice from the old guys and the new guys.
Perhaps Jeremiah 10:21 says it best, “For the shepherds are stupid, they don’t seek the Lord”.
We have to look to the Lord. We must get alone with the Father and seek Him.
Who was called
These twelve disciples were vastly different from one another. Like us, they all had different gifts
Some of them, like Thaddaeus, were pretty obscure. Nonetheless, according to Revelation 21:14, will receive the same reward as the others.
What they were called to
Jim drew out of the text a few things that we are called to do.
Mark 3:14 says “that they might be with Him.” This is what we are called to: be with Jesus.
The first call of a pastor is to be a Christian.
Jim reminded us that before you fall as a pastor, you fall as a Christian. If you have forgotten to spend the first part of every day with Jesus, get back to it.
Secondly, we are called to teach. Jesus taught a lot. Even as a teenager, Jesus called his teaching ministry “his fathers business.” He taught all the time.
He sends us to teach. And in order to teach, we must get to know the Scriptures.
Lastly, Jim said, He gave them power.
Relience on the spirit of God is one of the characteristics of the Calvary Chapel movement.
Jesus waited to be filled with the Spirit before his ministry, and so did the apostles.
“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit…”
“Having begun in the Spirit, are you going to finish in the flesh?”
As pastors, what we are doing is intrinsically spiritual, yet what we have in ourselves is entirely natural. We need the power of the Holy Spirit.
This was a great beginning session of the conference.
To check out the video of this session, head over to live.calvarychapel.com