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[advance to: part 2]

  Ephesians 2:8-10 (New King James Version)
       8  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
       9  not of works, lest anyone should boast.
     10  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

  Ephesians 2:8-10 (New American Standard Bible)
       8  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
       9  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
     10  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

  Introduction
     •  With every privilege comes responsibility and with every responsibility comes privilege.  We can’t earn the Lord’s salvation, but our acceptance of that gift includes our promise that we will work for Him to please Him. (1 John 3:22)
     • God works with us by preparing & enabling us to work (Heb. 13:16,20-21)
     • His written word teaches us what are His good works to do (2 Tim. 2:15, 3:16-17)

  Examples of when “I can’t do that” won’t do when God calls

  I. Called to lead — Moses (Exodus 3:7 - 4:18)
     • 3:7-9 — God has come to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt
     • 3:10 — God commands Moses to lead them to salvation in a promised land
     • 3:11 — Moses “can’t do that” because he is a nobody to the people
          … God promises both to help him and to prove His help
     • 3:13 — Moses “can’t do that” because they might ask who sent him
          … God gives him a name to use
     • 4:1 — Moses “can’t do that” because they might not believe him
          … God gives him the means to prove God did send him
     • 4:10 — Moses “can’t do that” because he’s not a good talker
          … God says He’s in charge and will teach Moses what to say
     • 4:13 — Moses “can’t do that” because he won’t go as God wants him
          … “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will” (NASB)
          … Moses is refusing to obey God’s decision to use him in His work
     • 4:14-18 — Lord gets angry with Moses and tells him:
          (a) He has already sent Aaron on his way to come help Moses talk;
          (b) Moses can and will be going; and
          (c) “I will teach you what you are to do.” (NASB)

   II. Called to be sent — Isaiah (Isaiah chapter 6)
     • 1-4 — God has come to send Isaiah out as a messenger
     • 5 — Isaiah “can’t do that” because “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips”; assumes sin disqualified him from God’s decision
     • 6-7 — God qualifies Isaiah by removing and forgiving his sin
     • 8 — God offers open invitation asking for someone He can send
     • 8 — Isaiah, trusting he’s been forgiven, “can do that” and volunteers

   III. Called to warn — Jonah (book of Jonah)
     • 1:2 — Lord instructs Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” (NASB)
     • 1:3 — Jonah “can’t do that” because he won’t do that; heads to Tarshish
          … breaks his promise to serve God and so falls away from God
     • 4:1-3 — Jonah “can’t do that” because he seeks to condemn the Ninevites
          … is afraid that the Ninevites will repent and be shown mercy
          … should be treating others as he wants them to treat him — Luke 6:31-36
          … condemning others is condemned by God — Matthew 7:1-2; Luke 6:37
     • 1:17 — if Lord can’t use Jonah for service, He can use him for fish food
     • 2:9 — after careful consideration, Jonah decides he can keep his promise
     • 2:10 - 3:1 — Lord gives Jonah a second chance to go to Nineveh
     • chapter 3 — Jonah, doing what he can do, helps the Ninevites to repent

   IV. Called to take courage — Peter (Matthew 14:22-34)
     • 26-27 — Jesus calls His followers to take courage from His word & presence
     • 28-29 — Peter, trusting Jesus, requests chance to show he “can do that”
     • 30 — doing fine, but when shifts focus off Jesus, he sinks to “can’t do that”
     • 31 — asked why he doubted after proving Jesus & he together “can do that”

   V. Called to do business — Lord’s servants (Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27)
     • Master leaves on a journey, but first entrusts his slaves / servants some money
          … in Matt. to each differently according to his ability
          … in Luke to each equally, saying “Do business with this until I come back”
          … apparently knows & expects each can do something to fulfill this trust
     • Master inspects with each to learn what business has been done in His name
     • some servants report the results from thinking “I can do that”
          … labeled as “good” & “faithful” servants, regardless what they gained
          … kept in service and entrusted with more resources & responsibilities
     • one servant reports the results from thinking “I can’t do that”
          … defends being afraid because he didn’t trust his Master to be fair
          … labeled as “wicked”, “lazy”, and “worthless” for doing nothing
          … rebuked (i.e. told he was wrong) that he could have used bank to earn interest
          … dismissed from the Master’s service (he wasn’t doing any work anyway)
          … his resources and responsibilities reassigned to someone more trustworthy
          … condemned to darkness & weeping away from the Master’s presence

[printable PDF of part 1][audio MP3 of part 1]
[advance to: part 2]