My church loves to send out missionaries. We have several folks in Kazakhstan, and we sent a young couple to that region, not that country, and the father of the husband said to his son, “If you don’t come back, I’m going to shoot John Piper,” and he meant it. He wasn’t joking at all. He was so angry at me for being instrumental in his son’s taking his children and his wife to Central Asia that he said, “If you don’t come back, he will pay with his life.” And I’d like to pray with you.

A Call for All Ages

Now, this is not just for young people. Let me walk through three age groups as to what my dreams and hopes are in regard to this message tonight and where I am praying it will lead. I’m thinking of young people for sure, there are a lot of them here, and your whole life is in front of you almost. God calls people, leads people, woos people, persuades people into vocational Christian ministry. It could be pastoring, teaching, leading, some kind of mercy ministry, or it could be a missionary. He brings people there, sometimes through decisive Damascus-like experiences in a moment, almost inexplicably. More often than that, I think he does it with a sequence over time of experiences that when they all come together, produce an irresistible, irrevocable desire for the work that you can’t shake, and you have to conclude, “This is of God, because it’s so biblical, it’s so me, it fits so many needs, and people are confirming it, so I yield.”

I think it happens that way, probably more often than not, and I hope that you young people, whether you experience a Damascus thing at this conference, or this is just one of those pieces — another one will come in a week, another one in a year, and when you look back over, it will be like the hound of heaven was after you — you will then yield and say, “All right, God’s after me for that kind of work,” because the need is great. It’s great in the Korean-American community for ministry, pastoring, and other kinds of leadership, and it’s great in the wider missionary need around the world.

The second group of people I have in mind are midlife people scattered out there. These are people who’ve been in their professions for 10 or 20 years. They’re in the middle of everything and it’s going great. You’re cresting in the achievements that you dreamed about when you got your degree. And God tonight wants to move into your life and say, “Are you sure you’re called to keep doing what you’re doing? Are you sure?” Or will you look back on this conference and say, “John Piper asked a question, ‘Are you sure you’re to be a lawyer this way the rest of your life, or a psychiatrist this way the rest of your life, or a doctor this way, or a nurse this way, or a teacher this way, or an engineer this way, or an computer analyst this way the rest of your life? Or have all of these 10 or 20 years of experience been getting you ready for another use for more directed Christian involvement?’” That’s the question I want you to ask, and that the Holy Spirit might begin, if not to decisively answer.

An Irresistable Call

Let me give you some examples. David and Mary Decker from our church are in West Africa, and now they’re on their fourth term with SIM. David was a manager of a Foot Locker shoe store when I preached a message like this over 15 years ago. I called, like probably there may be some kind of call afterward tonight, at the end of the service and said, “If you sense God doing something unusual — I don’t mean just ‘I’m willing to do the will of God’ because I expect everybody to say that — then come forward.” And there was David and Mary, a Foot Locker shoe store manager standing here saying, “I don’t know what it is, and I don’t know when it is. I just have this rumbling that something’s going to change.”

Now they are on their fourth term. They are a family with three sons, and they our some of our most rugged, hang-in-there, make-it-happen missionaries. They have lost every possession they own three times, I think, because of evacuation in the midst of military coups. Helicopters had to sweep in, yank them out, and they could only carry what was in their suitcase. Everything else is gone, and I have never met a more positive couple. They’re happy to go back every time.

And then there’s Brian and Deana Pratt, and they have had some hard times recently. They’re in Kazakhstan. I think they’re back right now as of a few weeks ago to try to sort some things out. I think they’re in their third term. Brian, probably 10 years ago, was making $80,000 or so. He was working for the phone company as an engineer in Minneapolis. We did a retreat where we said, “Come on now, wherever you are in your career, does God want to use those gifts more focused for his cause and his purpose around the world?” And he walked to the front, and couldn’t stop his hands from shaking for a half an hour. There was such a powerful move of God on his life, and they’ve been remarkably fruitful — among the most fruitful missionaries for soul-winning and church planting that we’ve ever sent out.

And then right now, just a few weeks away from going to plant churches among the poor in Bangkok, are Todd and Karen Indihar, who are in their mid-40s, I suppose, and have one teenage daughter and two younger children. They just sold their house, and they moved into an apartment across the street from us that a person has just for missionaries, and they’re trying to finish raising their support, and they’re heading out. He’s been a professional person for 20 years. That’s the kind of people I mean in this second category. Do not assume this message of calling you to seriously ask the question about vocational Christian ministry is only for these young people. It is for you and for the others.

Abandoning the American Dream

Here’s my third category: retirees. The Bible does not know anything about the concept of retirement. It does not exist. You can change, you can devote yourself to one career for 35, 40, or 50 years, and now here you are 65 or 70 years old. You’re ealthy with good eyes, good ears, and not losing your memory too badly. I’m 58, and I’m losing mine, so I know you can keep doing ministry when the memory is weaker. You’ve got in front of you 10, 15, or who knows how many good years left?

I want to just ask the question for those of you in your 60s, why would you waste a lifetime of wisdom given to you by almighty God playing games in Nevada? Why would you just do hobbies? Why would you just go fishing, or just play golf? I asked somebody for a little cultural sensitivity here, “Do Korean people play golf?” I have no idea whether this is a popular sport, but if I were talking to an ordinary non-Asian, American group, I’d say, “Don’t throw your life away on the golf course from 65 to 85 for goodness’ sake.” God has invested in you all these years. God has invested in you. You are ripe for ministry now. How tragic it is that we have this American sense that says, “Now I’ve invested my life. I’ve earned my money, and 30 percent of it went into a retirement plan, and I’m going to live off that stuff, and do all the stuff I wanted to do and couldn’t do.” What a worldly mindset. I wanted to do it and couldn’t do it.”

You don’t want to lay your life down where only gray-haired or no-haired people can go? The people that are the safest in the world, probably, in the most dangerous countries are very old people. Everybody in those countries respects old people. They don’t want these young whipper-snapper Americans with all their corrupt music to come over there, right? That’s the way they think. All Americans do is export trash, but if an old person comes and they are venerable and wise, they might wonder, “Why would you spend the last 10 years of your life with us?” And of course, the answer is, “I’m about to go to heaven, and I’d like to take you with me.” So, those are the three categories that I hope will listen carefully to what I have to say.

Removing the Obstacle of Fear

My aim is to remove the obstacle of fear tonight. There are so many ways to stir people up to consider vocational Christian ministry. I only have a few minutes, and I’m going to choose this one because as I had a couple of hours to get ready for tonight, I had to retreat to the things that I’m most at home and comfortable with. I have a text in Matthew that I have thought a lot about in regard to courage and in regard to fear. So, maybe the one thing I could do for those three age categories tonight is to give you enough words from Jesus, so that fear would no longer be a decisive element in keeping you from responding to God’s leading. There may be others, and I won’t address those. Somebody else will have to do that in your life, but I can at least tackle this one.

Afraid to Speak in Public

Let me give you one illustration from my own life, why this is probably such a big deal. This will be relevant, especially I think to young people, although I don’t know where the middle age and older folks are on this issue. When I was in 9th through 12th grade in high school, I could not speak in front of a group. I couldn’t stand up in a civics class and give a book report of 45 seconds because physically, my throat froze, and my whole body choked. It was a physiological impossibility for me to speak. I shed more tears over this. My mother sent me to a psychologist. I only went once, because I could tell the psychologist was trying to blame my mother for this problem, and I loved my mother more than anybody on planet earth, so I wouldn’t go back to that psychologist anymore.

They wanted to figure out, “What’s wrong with this guy? His daddy’s a preacher.” They’d say, “You going to be a preacher like your dad?” I’d say, “Not in a million years.” I couldn’t give what they called a part in a Southern Baptist training union on Sunday evening. And it was this way all through high school. Some people get elected to be vice president and president of their classes, but I never even ran for an office, because they had to give speeches. I couldn’t give a speech, and that’s the way I finished high school. I was introverted. That’s probably why I had such a bad complexion, as I talked about this morning, because I was anxious and nervous all the time, churning inside.

I went away to Wheaton College. I won’t give you the whole story, I’ll just give you the crisis. After the first two years, I stayed for summer school, and Chaplain Evan Welch came to me one day and he said, “Johnny, would you be willing to pray in chapel this week?” Now, up until that point, I had navigated my way through classes at college to avoid all public speaking, not knowing how I would graduate because you had to take a speech class to graduate in those days. I was just going to put it off until the last day and then drop out of school. And he said, “Would you pray in chapel?” Now, chapel in the summer at Wheaton was about 500 people, and I found, and I have no idea why, coming out of my mouth the words, “How long do you have to pray?” And he said, “About 30 seconds.”

To this day, I do not know how or why I said, “Yes.” Now I was really in trouble, and I remember walking to the front campus — this beautiful tree with grass and flowers in font of a big old building — and pacing back and forth saying, “God, please help me,” and I did something I’ve only done a few other times, and I don’t recommend it as a frequent thing to do, but sometimes it’s biblical. I made a vow. Just like in the Psalms, it says, “I will pay my vows to the Most High” (Psalm 116:14). I made a vow and I said, “God, if you just get me through a 30-second prayer in front of 500 people, whatever impression I make, I will never say no to an opportunity to speak for you out of fear again.” That felt absolutely cataclysmic to me. I mean, it may sound strange and funny to you, because I know people joke about their knees knocking when they speak and shaking. That is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about a mega shutdown.

So, God got me through, and it was a breakthrough. I still get nervous, and I’ve never, I don’t think, broken my vow. Fear is huge, right? That’s one kind. There are all kinds of fears, so I want to take a passage of Scripture for the next few minutes, open the words of Jesus, and give you five reasons not to be afraid of following God into the ministry of the word, even if it’s risky.

Courageous Sheep in the Midst of Wolves

So, let’s go to Matthew 10. If you have a Bible and you can read, if it’s not too dim out there, read with me. We’ll read Matthew 10:16–31. Put yourself in front of Jesus, as if he were talking to you, and ask him if he is talking to you in a very direct way:

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves (that is a very frightening sending), so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles (there’s an evangelistic strategy Jesus says will happen). When they deliver you over, do not be anxious . . .

Those texts used to land on me with such discouragement because I was so anxious. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be, and I prayed and prayed and prayed. Young people, don’t give up praying about the thing you’re wrestling with. I prayed probably from age 14 about that problem, and the answer came at age 20. It really came. Those were six very painful years, and sometimes I wondered, “Will it ever change?” Don’t quit praying. He continues:

Don’t be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death (you think it’s bad in the world now?), and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

And now, begin to listen for reasons not to be afraid. There are five of them in these verses, and I’m going to come back to point them out:

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household (Matthew 10:4–25).

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10:26–31).

Fearlessly Ministering the Word of Truth

What an amazing word from the Lord Jesus. There are a lot of reasons why you need to have courage to speak the word of God, and in America today, as well as in very hostile countries around the world — Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and others — to be an evangelizing Christian is to be a dead Christian. You’ll be shot, poisoned, or killed. Does that mean we shouldn’t do it? I think Paul would look at people today who say, “Oh, those countries are closed,” and say, “What do you mean closed?” If they said, “Well, if you go there and you share the gospel, you could either wind up in jail or be beaten,” he’d look at you and say, “I don’t get it. How’s that closed?” And you might say, “Well, I mean, we don’t want that to happen to us.” He’d say, “Well, right, but Jesus was crucified, and I was whipped five times, and three times with the rods, and I was in jail countless times and in danger everywhere. What’s closed?”

That’s an American concept. That’s a comfort-loving, run-from-risk, chicken-hearted, unbiblical, American concept. It’s not a biblical one. Jesus is saying, “I send you a sheep in the midst of Muslim wolves, Hindu wolves, Buddhist wolves, and secularist wolves.” How’s the gospel going to spread, just going where it’s safe? What’s that? Where’s that in the Bible? And in America itself, the fear of declaring the truth strongly pervades the clergy. We have so many wimpy clergy who just say what is unifying and safe. They don’t say anything that could get themselves into trouble or cause division.

Let me read you a quote from Martin Luther:

If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God, except precisely that one little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Jesus Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all battlefields besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

And how many pastors calculate their ministries exactly to flinch at the point of controversy, the pro-life point, the homosexual marriage point, the divorce point, or the materialistc, wealthy, church member who happens to give a lot? We just won’t go there. We think, “Let’s preach a safe gospel that offends nobody, because it’s couched in such self-affirming American psychobabble.” We are called to take risks specifically in regard to ministering the word of God.

Five Arguments Against Fear

So, this text now is really clear on what the main point is. Let me direct your attention to Matthew 10:26, Matthew 10:28, and Matthew 10:31, so that you can see Jesus’s main point:

• So have no fear of them (Matthew 10:26).
• Do not fear those who kill the body (Matthew 10:28).
• Fear not, therefore, you are of much more value than many sparrows (Matthe 10:31).

There’s a really clear negative point here: don’t be afraid. Of doing what? That’s clear too in this text. In Matthew 10:27 he says:

What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

So the fear in this text is all about the fear of speaking, and I’m calling you — retirees, middle age, young people — to consider the possibility that God is on you tonight, moving you toward vocational word ministry. There are all kinds of forms and you can use your very gifts to proclaim the gospel. Jesus says, “What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear whispered when I’m with you in the Garden of the Mount of Olives, and I’m telling you all the secrets of the kingdom, preach it to everybody, and don’t be afraid to speak.”

1. You Are in the Household of Jesus

Now, he gives five arguments, and so, I hope you will consider these. These are five reasons not to be afraid when you consider the possibility tonight that God might be calling you to this ministry. Number one: Look at the word So, or therefore, at the beginning of Matthew 10:26. It says, “So,” or it could be translated, “Therefore.” And he continues, “Have no fear of them.” The word so means that the reason for not being afraid came just before the command. It’s saying, “Therefore . . . don’t be afraid.” What just came before? Let’s read it at the end of Matthew 10:25:

If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

Does that make sense? It doesn’t sound like it makes sense. That sounds like very strange logic to me. They called Jesus the devil. You’re not as good as Jesus, so they’re going to call you worse things, so don’t be afraid. How does the so work? How does therefore work? I think it works like this: If they call you and treat you like they did Jesus, that’s really good evidence that you are a member of his household, and nothing could be more wonderful. Do you see what it says?

If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

I tell you, there is nothing in the universe I want more tonight than to know I’m in the house of Jesus, that I belong to the family of Jesus, and if they come after my head or my heart, they can have it, as long as I can be sure that their maligning of me is evidence that I’m in the house. So, I think the logic works. I think the logic works. So, don’t be afraid, because the very persecution you are fearing is the evidence you belong to the household of Jesus. Therefore, don’t be afraid of the thing that you’re fearing. That’s argument number one.

2. The Truth Will Be Vindicated

Here’s argument number two. I hope you can learn a little something about reading the Bible. I said to you this morning that I was lying in the hospital, listening to John Harold Ockenga handle the Bible in such a way that made a fire burn in my heart, like in Luke 24:32, which says, “Did not our hearts burn within us when he opened to us the word?” A fire burned within me because I saw him drawing out things like I’m trying to draw out right now from the clear logic of a text, not just putting on the text his ideas, but drawing out what’s really there.

So, look at the word for in the middle of Matthew 10:26. I’m sorry if you have an NIV and they drop things like this. That’s because the NIV tends to be a paraphrase and not a more literal translation, and I would recommend you get another one. Matthew 10:26 has in the middle of it the word for. If you don’t see it, you need to change versions. It says:

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

So a ground, a reason, a basis, a foundation is given for the first half of the verse. He says, “Don’t be afraid of them.” Why? “Because nothing is covered that will not be revealed.”

Everything Concealed Will Be Revealed

Now, how does that work? Isn’t it amazing that Jesus is arguing your fear away? You might think, “You can’t argue somebody’s fear away.” Jesus is. When you know it’s Jesus and he’s giving you good reasons, and you pray, “Lord, let these reasons land on me with your power,” they can make fear go away. And so, he says, “For nothing is covered that will not be revealed, and nothing is hidden that will not be known.”

How does that help take away fear? It works like this: One of the great obstacles to keep speaking is when you seem to be surrounded by powerful, cultured, well-to-do, thoughtful, intellectual people who roll their eyes and cluck their tongues at your mythological folly about the death and resurrection of God. They just think, “You are a fool.” And at that point, you can begin to feel like a fool.

And Jesus says here, “Let me tell you something. Right now, something is covered and concealed to them. Their eyes are blind. You have been given eyes to see the truth. Know that one day, the skies will blaze with this truth, and all those people who are rolling their cultured eyes, despising you right now, will fall before you and say, “You were right. You are vindicated.” And you need to hold on to that so that you can move through these moments when you feel so foolish and so small, and when it seems like they know so much, they’re so educated, they’re so powerful, and they’re dressed so sharp, and on and on.

You need to remember the things that are covered are going to be revealed, the things that are concealed are going to strip the world bare with light and glory. The trumpet will sound, and everybody who has seemed so sure, so cocky and ready to put Christians down, are going to reel back on their heels as the Lord of glory appears, and all these nobodies who spoke the truth fearlessly are going to shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Be one of those. Be one of those fearless nobodies. Let your vindication come later. It doesn’t have to come now.

3. You Can Only Be Killed

That’s the second argument, here’s number three. It’s in Matthew 10:28. It says:

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul . . .

So, what’s the argument for fearlessness here? I would put it like this: fear not, you can only be killed. Isn’t that a fair paraphrase of Matthew 10:28? I’ll read it again:

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul . . .

Jesus is saying, “All they can do is kill you.” Now, if that doesn’t land on you with relief, you don’t get it. You don’t get Christianity. You need to get out of the human assumption that we deserve life. Who says you deserve three score and 10? You don’t deserve another breath. Every breath is a free gift of grace to be put to use for King Jesus. If he wants you at age 16 in a car wreck, like my wife’s brother Ben, or at 56, like my mother in that bus accident in Israel, or at 85, like my dad, who’s having dementia now. Whenever he wants you, he can take you, and it’s no wrong done to you. All you can do is die.

But If you choose to live the life of the fearful person, the comfort-seeking rather than need-meeting person, protecting yourself, and living in safety, you can lose body and soul, and that’s worth trembling about. Losing your body and flying away to Jesus — that’s no loss. It’s a loss for your mom, and dad, your kids, sure, but God will step in and meet their needs.

Martyrs and Terrorists

All your enemies can do is dispatch you to paradise, and it might be helpful to say right here, what’s the difference between a Christian martyr and a Muslim terrorist, a suicide bomber? The difference is this, though there are lots of differences: Muslim people do not believe in Christ, crucified and risen, and therefore, they’re not saved, they’re not going to heaven. There is no paradise on the other side, especially on the other side of murder. What I mean by saying the difference that can happen for you is that your enemy will just dispatche you to paradise is that you die to bring people to the truth; you don’t kill to bring people to the truth.

Christianity does not spread by the sword. There is no spreading of the message of the Prince of Peace by the sword. I wish the Muslim world knew the difference between the American military and Christian missions. They don’t. They think it’s all one thing, and that’s a great tragedy, which is why we must, as patriotic as you want to be — and it’s a good thing — distance ourselves in kingdom enterprises from American enterprises. There is a difference between having Jesus as your president and having Bush as your president, or Kerry, or whoever else. There ought to be a kind of countercultural edge to your Christianity that lets the people you work with know, “My first allegiance is to Christ, not America.”

4. Even the Hairs of Your Head Are Numbered

Here’s number four. It’s found in Matthew 10:30:

But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore . . .

What does that mean? Who cares, right? Go ahead, count them. What difference does that make? What is he saying? Go through the words, and ask the heart of Jesus here. What is Jesus saying when he says, “Don’t be afraid, the hairs of your head are all numbered?” What’s that about? Isn’t it about closeness, intimacy, and care?

We have a little eight-year-old daughter, and my wife sits her on a bench, either with a Christian video or a book in front of her and for three hours, braids her hair, and does cornrows and different kinds of things. As I’ve watched it over the last eight years, it has provided me a sense of this text that Jesus probably didn’t have in his mind, but it’s like what he had in his mind, I think — namely, look at her, look at her like a mother hen hovering over her little chick with her hands on her head for three hours, braiding, massaging, moving, and making sure the tug is just right so it doesn’t hurt or pull hairs out. What care, what intimacy, what closeness, what devotion.

And one of the things that is so threatening in ministry is the feeling that God is gone. It’s the thought that, “God has left me. I’m in jail in Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, or Sudan, and nobody remembers me.” Oh, the dangers at that point of making shipwreck of our faith, right? And Jesus wants to say to them, “No, it’s not like that. I come down, and just like you would have to count hairs like this — one, two, three, four, and then if you get 10, you put a little rubber band around 10 of them and then you start counting again because you might lose your place — that’s how close I am to you in the prison cell. I love you so much, I’ll never leave you. I’ll never forsake you. I’ll be with you to the end of the age.” So always hear, as you contemplate this moving of God tonight, in the past, and in the future, on your life to draw you possibly toward vocational ministry, the last word of Jesus in Matthew:

Behold, I will be with you, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

5. You Are More Valuable than Many Sparrows

Here’s number five. It’s Matthew 10:29–31:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father . . . Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

There’s a logic going on here. It’s called an argument from the lesser to the greater. He’s dealing with sparrows and talking about how cheap they are. If you get a couple of pennies you can get five of them. And then he says, “God is so attentive, powerful, and providentially in control with these sparrows that not one of them drops dead apart from his will.” In other words, he is sovereign over all the birds in the world. That’s really sovereign. All the birds in the woods, in jungles where no human being is, having no influence whatsoever — when one of them dies, God has decided that it’s time for it to die.

And then he says, to make sure we get where he’s going with the logic from the lesser to the greater, he says, “And you, you’re more valuable to me than many sparrows. Therefore (here’s the conclusion), nothing will befall you but what I decree as good for you. Nothing befalls you but what I decree is good for you.” It’s like that text that I began with last night from James 4:13–15. It says:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

If the Lord wills, we will live, and if the Lord doesn’t, we won’t, but it won’t be because he dropped the ball. God never says, “Oops.” Satan tries his best to make God look like he says, “Oops,” but he never does. And so, the great confidence that we have in the sovereignty of God — and I think probably in my battles in the ministry, to stay in ministry, and to slog my way through hard times and good times — is probably the most important thing to me after the cross.

In the Absence of Fear

So, let me put the two together, and I’ll be done. Romans 8:28, we all love, don’t we?

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Now, there is a ground, a basis, a foundation put underneath that. It says:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:29–32).

Now, put Romans 8:32, at the end, with to Romans 8:28. It says, “All things work together for the good of those who love him, and are called . . . will he not give us all things with him?” And the answer is, yes, he’ll give us everything we need. He’ll work every circumstance together for good, and that seems to be where Jesus ends his argument.

Don’t be afraid. Take what you’ve learned in your churches, from your mom and dad from the Bible, and pray earnestly, “Oh God, is there a call in my life tonight? Are you taking me one more step towards devoting myself to seriously pursuing confirmation of your call on my life towards vocational declaration in some form or other — missionary, teacher, pastor, editor, writer, or some support ministry on the mission field? God, are you doing that? Please, use these five of Jesus’s arguments against my anxiety and against my fears to get that out of the way, so that I can hear your voice clearly.”