How Do I Know if God Wants Me to Go?

Austin Huang:
Luke 14:26 it talks about Jesus saying, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny his family, his mother, his wife, and let him deny himself and follow Me.”

David:
There is a way, there’s a way to follow Jesus and honor your father and mother in obedience to this command we see in scripture. You’re called to Christ, first and foremost. You’re called to follow Jesus wherever he leads. And then flowing from that is a call to mission for all of us, like make disciples of all the nations. The creativity of God to design all kinds of details in our lives for the spread of His glory among the nations. So to really be open to the unique ways that that might play out in your life. Okay, I’m going. I’m going and making disciples of nations.

Austin Huang:
David, one of the biggest questions that passionate Christian young adults wrestle with is whether or not God is calling them to missions. I mean, it’s extremely exciting and intimidating, at the same time some think you need a big dramatic moment like hearing the audible voice of God while others feel compelled just from reading scripture, the great commission in the Bible. What would you say to someone like me? Say, how do I figure out if I’m actually called, God is calling me specifically to go?

David:
Well, calling is such an interesting word. It’s really interesting because in the New Testament that word usually refers to calling the salvation. So that’s the predominant use of that word. So all right, you’re called… This is really important. You’re called to Christ, first and foremost. You’re called to follow Jesus wherever he leads. To start there, and I think if we’re not careful, we won’t start there. Are you really committed to following Jesus wherever he leads you? Your life is His, which is what it means to follow Jesus. “I’m crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. This is my life, wherever He leads me. So that’s the first calling in our life is Christ.
And then flowing from that is a call to mission for all of us. Make disciples of all the nations, go and make disciples of all the nations. It’s not just calling. It’s like command. This is obedience. This is a matter of obedience or disobedience. So for every single one of us, we are called to follow Jesus and make disciples of all the nations. The way we talk about it a lot, follow Jesus and make Him known among the nations. That’s like starting point for every follower of Jesus. And then the question, which I think is what a lot of people are asking… Well then the question becomes how do I do that? Where do I do that? What are the ways I do that? But I think, I just want to make sure as we think about calling that it really is, okay, I’m going to making disciples of the nations. That’s not negotiable.
So then it’s just a matter of where and how. So that is where I would encourage people. In a world where 3 billion people have never heard the gospel… The default is I need to be doing something to make the gospel. I know I need to be making disciples in a way that leads to reaching the nations with the gospel. But then, okay, we’re in hell. And that’s where I think about Acts 13, when I think about calling. While the church is worshiping and fasting and praying, the Spirit says, “Set apart from you, Saul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them.” And then He sends out Saul and Barnabas from Antioch to go and take the gospel to places where it hasn’t gone. Well, that happens in the context of worship, fasting and praying. So walk with Jesus, worshiping Jesus in the context of a church, fasting, praying, seeking Him and being open to wherever He might lead you.
And then the Holy Spirit will lead us to different places and to carry out this command in different ways. Some of us, He’ll lead us to do it through this job or that job, as a teacher, as an engineer, as a nurse, as whoever. I think about the couple I was just talking to last night, young adults, she’s a nurse and her husband are doing… She’s doing nursing now, but she is going to an opportunity to use nursing to spread the gospel in a really hard place right now or over the next year. So anyway, but God’s called them to do nursing in one place now and a year from now they’re going to be doing another place. But that’s just like the Spirit will lead us, guide us, direct us in all kinds of different ways.
So walk with Jesus. Default, how can I be used among the nations? And then trust. He’ll lead, guide, direct our steps if we’re really willing to go wherever He wants us to go. And do that with the church who helps you discern what are the opportunities for what that might look like. I think specifically for college students or right out of college, really intentionally think through spending at least a summer or a semester or a year or a couple of years, either during college or right out of college, exploring what this would look like for you to make the gospel known in some other part of the world. So man, there’s a lot more we could talk about.

Austin Huang:
Totally. I think when I hear you talking about being a nurse overseas or being a doctor overseas or doing some other type of job overseas, I think a lot of people don’t understand that that’s a possibility. I think that’s a misconception that we have about being missionaries is that, oh, well, just to be a missionary means you be a missionary. And what does that mean? I don’t know. But what are some other misconceptions that you kind of hear or have experience with when it comes to being a missionary overseas?

David:
Yeah. Well man, if I could step back, one, I do want to kind of relieve the pressure of you’ve got to have this amazing vision of God saying… And this amazing feeling. God’s saying, “Okay, you’re going to go spend your life somewhere else.” Sometimes that might happen, but it may not. It may be… I think about a young adult couple, so recently married in our church family who he has a job that has international work opportunities associated with it. So he got a job transfer to another part of the world and he’s going and he is taking it and he’s going to live there for the spread of the gospel there. That’s just obeying Jesus. He’s been making disciples in Metro DC where we live. Then I do think a misconception is this is like you got to have this amazing vision of what this is going to look like instead of just getting a job opportunity, a job transfer, that’s the way it could play out.
And so I think that leads to, okay, some people do. God calls to leave jobs to go and spread the gospel among the nations. Other people, God calls to leverage jobs to go and spread the gospel among the nations. There’s so many opportunities for leveraging, teaching… I mean, even just the things I’ve already mentioned, teaching, engineering, nursing, medicine, there’s so many different opportunities. I mean, I’ve written before just about guy who’s like a trout poop expert and the way that opened doors for him to spread the gospel in the ball. Or another guy who’s like a tree expert and the way that opened doors for the spread of the gospel in the Middle East. Another guy who’s really good at milking cows, and that has opened doors for him in different… There’s so many. The creativity of God to design all kinds of details in our lives for the spread of His glory among the nations. So to really be open to the unique ways that might play out in your life.

Austin Huang:
No, that’s really good. I think one of the bigger questions as well for young adults like college students or people who just graduated, they have this passion to go overseas, but they don’t have the support of their family or their friends. Is this a moment where… Luke 14:26 talks about Jesus saying, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny his family, his mother, his wife, and let him deny himself and follow Me.” Is this a moment where you just say, “Well, I don’t really care what my family and friends say, I’m just going to go?” Or is there a way to balance and respect them and… Yeah, how would you navigate that?

David:
Yeah, I mean, allegiance to Jesus is first and foremost. It’s primary in our lives over and above anyone, anything. And I think about just a couple days ago, there’s a guy who’s come to our church who’s from a central Asian country. Well, I’ll just mention he’s from Afghanistan and he now lives in Metro DC and he just became a follower of Jesus and his family kicked him out of his house. So like allegiance to Jesus is his primary, for all of us as follower of Jesus. For him that means even just following Jesus means he loses family. Others, it might mean going against the grain. I would encourage people, yes, there is a way. There’s a way to follow Jesus and honor your father and mother in obedience to this command we see in scripture at the same time. So there’s a way to respectfully… Now, I would encourage before you make the decision, okay, the Lord’s leading me overseas, to have brothers and sisters in Christ who are helping you discern that.
I would not encourage anybody to make that decision all on your own. That needs to happen in an Acts 13 kind of way, in the context of good Christian community. But if the Lord is doing that in the context of community, you have brothers and sisters and pastors and elders even in your life and your church family who are saying, “Yes, we see the evidence of this,” and maybe mom or dad or friends are saying, “No, you shouldn’t do that,” for any number of reasons.
But if you sense the Lord’s leading that in that way and your church is affirming that, then to pray through, okay, how can I communicate to mom and dad, I love you, my inclination, I want to honor you in every way possible? My allegiance ultimately is to Jesus. I believe, and here’s the reasons why I believe He’s leading me to do this, but I want to do this in a way just out of respect for you, honor for you, but I’m going to follow Jesus. I think there’s a way to do that. I think there’s also… That’s healthy. I think there’s also really unhealthy ways that that could play out where… So do it with humility, with wise discernment in the church and with a desire that’s clear in your life to honor your parents at every turn.

Austin Huang:
Yeah, I really appreciate you bringing it all back to the local church every time you respond to these questions, because I think we can talk about this in another episode, but I think there’s this kind of burden that young adults feel when it’s like, do I have to go through the local church? Why is the local church so crucial to me going and being sent out? Could you just touch on that a little bit? Why is the local church the sending agent for missionaries?

David:
Well, I mean, it’s the way God has designed it. So when you look at Acts 13 as a picture of the church sending out and the relationship, the interconnection between… I mean Paul all throughout the Book of Acts wasn’t doing things, was just kind of on his own. It was all in connection with local churches. But we all need… It kind of goes back to the foundational, we need the body of Christ to follow Jesus, period. I need the body of Christ to pursue Jesus, to be holy, to be the person God’s calling me to be. I need other brothers and sisters in my life who are speaking into my life, who are encouraging me, who are teaching me God’s word, who are helping me grow in Christ, who are praying for me, who are doing all the 59 one anothers that we see in the Bible, that happen in the context of a local church.
This is God’s design for disciples we made is in churches. And so then, okay, it just makes sense then as I’m discerning. God’s leadership in my life like vocationally or where to live or how to spend and steward the grace God’s given me, of course I need to be with brothers and sisters who are praying for me in that, who are encouraging me in that, who are helping me see things I may not see, who are giving good spirit-led counsel to me in that. We all need that. We would be foolish to not seek that, because again, it just is that overflow of following Jesus. We need local churches. Well, if I’m going to follow Jesus to a really hard place in the world, well then I want to do that out of the overflow of a local church with a local church that’s praying for me and encouraging me and helping support me as I go.
I don’t need to be going alone. I need to be going with their support and with their encouragement and to be able to… That’s what I love about Acts 14, when Paul comes back to Antioch after being sent out by [inaudible 00:13:23], and he encourages the church there. They’re a part of this story that’s playing out through Paul’s work in other places. They’re a part of it from Antioch. So you need a local church who’s a part of the story with you. And why would we not want the body of Christ, a local body of Christ, a part of that journey with us? So for all those reasons, it’s biblical, it’s wise for us to do all this in the context of local church.

Austin Huang:
That makes so much sense. David, as we land this plane, for the person who’s listening, who’s wrestling with trying to discern this call to become a missionary, what is one step that they can take this week to lean into what the Holy Spirit is doing and might be doing in their heart and leading them this way?

David:
Oh man, one step this week… All right, sorry, I’m going to do a couple steps this week.

Austin Huang:
Oh yeah, you got it.

David:
But I start with Isaiah 6:8. I was just there in my time in the Lord a couple days ago but, “Here am I, send me” or wherever you want me to do. I’m eager. So it’s not a question of if, it’s just where. And so really to pray that and with faith. God, I trust you in my life, wherever. If that means I stay right where I’m at, then I’ll stay here. If that means go to the middle of whatever part of the world, I’ll go there.
So to start there, and then I would say, in light of the importance of the local church, reach out to a leader in your local church. This is one thing you can do this week and say, “Will you pray with me about whether or not the Lord is leading me to go somewhere and help me think through this and let’s think through this together?”
So I think if you do those two things, before the Lord and with somebody else saying, “Hey, I want to actively pursue. Is the Lord calling me to do this?” I have a lot of confidence that in a local church with somebody with total surrender before the Lord, that He’s going to lead and guide from those first couple steps this week.

Austin Huang:
So good. Thank you, David.

David:
Yeah.

Austin Huang:
Thanks so much for joining us today on Everyday Radical. We pray that this conversation stirred your heart and strengthened your faith. There’s so much more ahead, so go back and catch any episodes you might’ve missed and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s ahead. Let’s keep making Jesus known everywhere. Until next time.