Nordic Revival Podcast w/ Tomi Lehto

Are you available for God to use you?

• Tomi Lehto

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When Jesus says "Follow me," our response reveals the condition of our heart and shapes our eternal destiny. Matthew immediately left his tax collector's booth to follow Jesus while the rich young ruler walked away sad because of his many possessions.

• The Bible shows two contrasting responses to Jesus's call: immediate obedience versus reluctant rejection
• What determines our response is the "ground of our heart" - whether it's filled with worldly concerns or receptive to God's word
• Following Jesus isn't just a moment but a life-altering decision that impacts generations
• Jesus still calls people today, but many miss His invitation because of distractions and competing priorities
• God values availability more than ability - He's not looking for skills but for willing hearts
• Preparation time is never wasted time when answering God's call
• Everyone who leaves anything behind for Jesus will receive a hundredfold return
• The most tragic outcome is reaching the end of life having never fulfilled what God called you to do

If you feel God calling you to something greater, take time to prepare properly through Bible study and spiritual growth. The call of God on your life is too valuable to ignore.


Speaker 1:

In Matthew, chapter 9,. In verse 9, the Bible says this as Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth. Follow me and be my disciple. Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Later Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples why does your teacher eat with such scum? That's a little harsh. When Jesus heard this, he said healthy people don't need a doctor, sick people do. Then he added now go and learn the meaning of this scripture. I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices, for I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners. And again the first verse that I read, the ninth verse of Matthew, chapter 9. It says as Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth. Follow me and be my disciple. Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. So Matthew was at his work, he was at his job, he was doing what he had been doing, and then Jesus shows up and remember.

Speaker 1:

Hebrews 13 and 8 says Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. Jesus is the same today. He's still the healer, the deliverer, he's still the savior, he's still the one who baptizes in the Holy Ghost and fire, and he's still calling people, even now. And as you're joining me, maybe, if, let me say, let me put it this way If you're not in the fulfillment of what God has for you, maybe you are a believer, but there's still things that you know that Lord has for you, things that you know that Lord has for you. I'm going to give you some steps today to take to get from where you are to where you need to be. I don't want you to carry those hopes and dreams and visions that are inside of you to your grave, but I want you to see those things fulfilled. For Matthew, the beginning was when he heard the words follow me and be my disciple. Of course, jesus got a lot of criticism because people thought that he shouldn't be talking to the kind of people that he was talking to. He shouldn't be investing that much time with the people that he was investing and spending time with. But Jesus came to do. He came to do his father's will and one of the things that he does, and he's still doing today, is he's calling people and there's so much noise in the lives of people. Maybe we'll get to that tonight in the revival meeting. It's going to be a great night, but sometimes what happens there's so much other things than compete.

Speaker 1:

In Mark, chapter 4, jesus gives the parable of the sower of the seed, that the seed comes from heaven. Seed is the word of God, but what determines the harvest is actually the ground that it's being sown into. There could be worries of this world, other things, people's opinions, all kinds of things, and even the enemy that can come and steal that seed away. But if it's planted into the good ground ground it's going to produce a good harvest. And I want you to see this that you are responsible for the ground of your heart. Is it full of worry? Is it full of cares of this world? Is it full of distractions, lusts, passions of this world that do not originate from your heavenly father? Those things are going to suffocate the word and the plans that heaven has for you if you don't take care of the ground of your heart. But it's amazing to see that when Matthew heard the words follow me and be my disciple. He left everything and he followed Jesus. And what's important to understand is that this wasn't just a moment. This wasn't just a moment for a good day for Matthew although it was a good day but it wasn't just a good day. This was a moment of turnaround in his life that not only impacted him, but impacted his family, people that he touched and people that he reached even to eternity. That's what happens when we answer and consider the value of God's calling.

Speaker 1:

Now let's look at another place in the Bible, in Matthew, chapter 19,. We'll stick with the gospel of Matthew, but we're going to go into the 19th chapter and I'm going to read to you from verse 16. Someone came to Jesus with this question Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Why, ask me about what is good? Jesus replied there is only one who is good. But to answer your question, if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments which once a man asked, jesus replied you must not murder, you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not testify falsely, honor your father and mother, love your neighbor as yourself. I've obeyed all these commandments. The young man replied what else must I do do? Jesus told him if you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me. But then the young man heard this. When the young man heard this, he went away, sad, for he had many possessions. So you see two different kinds of responses. Matthew got up and followed Jesus and here this rich young man whom we really don't hear about after this time. Is there a possibility that he came around later? I don't know, maybe he did, but probably he didn't, because this was his opportunity to turn things around. This was a moment when Jesus extended the invitation for him to follow him. I want you to see this how valuable it is when the Lord calls you to follow him. And these are things of the heart. This is not just putting on a front, but this is a response of the heart when we say, lord, I want to do your will, when we say, lord, I want to do your will.

Speaker 1:

We got married with my wife about what is it? 21 years ago and some, and our first year of marriage, we kind of moved to the roughest neighborhood because we figured, hey, if you need to be a light. You might as well move to the roughest neighborhood, which is logical thinking, I suppose. But we had a good time in terms of we were able to reach people. We built some good relationships. We were helping any way we could. We were helping at the youth center that the neighborhood had and we were organizing events and stuff like that anything we could come up with and we ended up reaching some people. People came to the Lord and so forth.

Speaker 1:

But it became obvious after a few months of doing that that at least me personally and also my wife that I needed something in me that is going to be greater than I have at the moment, because what people really needed and what that neighborhood needed was a church. There needed to be a biblical, scriptural place where people could be fed, not only the youth we were working mostly with the youth we were in early 20s, just got married was we were working mostly with the youth. You know, we were not in early 20s, just got married, so we were working mainly with the youth. But in order to see a turnaround, we could see that, hey, this place needs a church. But even a thought of that would be completely out of out of what I could picture myself doing and I felt like there needs to be so much more.

Speaker 1:

So that gets to my second point is that when the Lord calls you, just like he did with Peter in Luke, jesus said come and follow me. I make you fishers of men, I make you fisher men. So when you start to follow him, the Lord will lead, he's going to teach, teach you, and the preparation is so vital so that that that realization, that hey, that there, if I will. And and this is what's so amazing about it when you have a desire to do the will of god, when you really get honest and you say, lord, I want to, I want to see you, I don't want to. I don't want to be just seen by men, I don't want to be accepted by men, I don't want to be just approved by systems of this world. I want to do your will.

Speaker 1:

And you begin to do things. You see so many things differently. It's one thing for you to do nothing and just sit and criticize, you'll end up building an entire world in your head that has no contact point with reality. But when you actually begin to act and do and you put yourself in the place that you're actually out there. You realize, okay, I still need some more stuff.

Speaker 1:

And that's what happened to us and we begin to pray Lord, we need to go in the Bible schools where we're looking at places to go to, and Lord, supernaturally, by his grace, because we were hungry, we were thirsty, we wanted to see things happen Lord led us to the other side of the world, took us away from our familiar circles and we got to go to Bible school and be part of a very fruitful work and we got to serve and we got to prepare and there was a work that the Lord needed to do in us. There was an encounter that Moses had with the burning bush in the back of the desert that led him, before the Pharaoh, to break Israel free, pharaoh to break israel free. There is an encounter, just like the lord appeared to abraham in, in, in in the book of genesis, and and he said leave your mother's house, leave your father's house, leave your family, leave those circumstances that you used to, and come and and go where I tell you to go. And abraham left without even knowing where he was going. There's power in what Matthew did in Matthew, chapter nine, when he just took off and followed Jesus. That's why I love the Bible school. That's why we have the Bible school.

Speaker 1:

You know the purpose of it is is to see you fulfill the call of God for your life. There's nothing more miserable, in my opinion this is my opinion but there's nothing more miserable for me than to come year after year to a church or a fellowship and see people stay in the same spot. Now, people's calls are different. We don't compare ourselves with others, but when we are following Jesus, we always keep moving forward. Lord keeps doing things. There's an assignment that Lord has for us, and the devil is the one who tries to stop, tries to cause you to be depressed, sad, demotivated, placed paralyzed with, with fear, so that you're not able to move forward. But Jesus, he is the one who breaks you free, whom the sun sets free, is free indeed, and he's going to set you on a path, when you begin to follow him, that no forces of hell are going to be able to stop you. You're going to do everything heaven has for you, amen.

Speaker 1:

So if we look at these two scriptures, you see the rich young man. He had earthly riches, but I'm telling you, what's he going to do with those riches without a purpose, without an eternal destination. You know sure, maybe he was able to live for a few years nicely, maybe he was able to live the Finnish dream. I came up with that term the other day. What's the Finnish dream? It's a flat with three rooms and a 74 square meters, with a tiny sauna where you may be able to cram three people into, and then a summer house with the sauna by the lake where you can occasionally go and you're thinking, tommy, are you against me having a summer house? Not really. But you see, all these things can hold you back from what God calls you to do, because whenever the Lord even speaks to your heart about doing things See, if we look at from Isaiah, chapter 1, the Lord says there in verse 19, that if you're willing and obedient, you'll eat the good of the land Many people just do oh, I do what's necessary, but are you willing to do what God's calling you to do? Are you taking those steps of obedience? Are you doing with the willing heart and say Lord, here I am, I want to see everything.

Speaker 1:

I believe Matthew was so excited when he heard Jesus call him and then, in contrast, we see this guy who was wealthy, who had a good foundation. He could have been a great disciple, he could have been one of the key disciples, but he got sad when Jesus told him to follow him because of the other things weighed more for him. This is what we face every day. This is the time of the year. We give people a call, our office is calling people who we've met, who've said yes, I want to follow the call of God for my life during the summer or during the springtime, as we've had meetings. And then we call people and we say hey, you said you wanted to follow the call of God. We got a scholarship for you, you can start in Bible school this month. And then people come up with excuses Well, I got this family situation, I got this house, I got this job situation and you know, obviously you have to follow the Holy Spirit, but what happens with people is that the other things weigh more in the scale than the words of Jesus.

Speaker 1:

When it comes down to it, jesus said then come and follow me. Then come and follow me. Verse 27 of Matthew 19 says then, jesus, excuse me. Peter said to him we've given up everything to follow you. What will we get? And Jesus replied. I assure you that then the world is made new and the son of man sits upon his glorious throne. You who have been followers will also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel, and everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or children or property for my sake will receive hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be the least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then. I want you to lay aside every excuse that would keep you still and holding back, whatever the reason may be, because there's going to come a time when everything's going to be open, everything is going to be exposed, and then we're going to see and Jesus is going to. He's going to repay. There's going to be rewards for those who follow him. There's going to be rewards for those who follow him and I'm not saying this to fit into a group or to be popular with people or whatever.

Speaker 1:

You know, there's been times in church history where it's been popular to be Christian. There's been times in church history where it's been not so popular. For the most part, it's not very popular to say that you're a follower of Jesus right now, but even in a fellowship. But this has got to do with your heart, your willingness, your obedience and your desire to follow Him, because there's great things that the Lord has for you. There's a heavenly assignment that the Lord has for you, but it begins with your response to those words of Jesus when he says then come and follow me. Remember Jesus. He's the same as he's always been. He's still doing what he's always done. He's still calling people, and I know there's people that the Lord is calling even this morning. He's calling you and there may be a voice and sound in your mind and maybe even physically. There's a sound in your room of different things, distractions. Maybe there's a busy life that you have because of children, because of family situations, but there's a call that God has and I don't want you to reach the end of your life never having fulfilled what the Lord has for you. I don't know if the rich young man had an opportunity later to consider his actions, but if he ended up living a long life without fulfilling and answering that call or ever making a change, um, that's a terrible place to be in the end of your life where you know you could have done all kinds of things. And again, you know I'm not saying to copy somebody else, I'm saying there's a plan heaven has for you and when we yield and surrender our lives to Lord Jesus and we say, lord, do whatever you want to do, and we pick up the plan that Lord has for us and we're full of the Holy Spirit, it's amazing. We'll actually be moving to the same direction together as the body of Christ, and we'll see mighty things done.

Speaker 1:

Years ago I was standing on the platform at a church there this must have been in the first two or three years of the church and I had just given an altar call for the call of God. I felt the Lord leading people to answer what we're talking about today and I asked people to raise their hand at the altar who feel like they call to another nation, and many people raised their hands and you know just the normal people. God uses normal people and then he fills them with his supernatural power and it's amazing and I was just so moved by everything that lord would use me and he would take me from those times that, um, I first answered the call of god over 20 years ago and wanted to do the will of god. I didn't know anything and and and and. I didn't know where I would end up. I didn't know I would have a church. I never thought I'd have a church and be in a place where I'm now. But when I was just there on the platform and I was just talking to the Lord, I said, lord, how come you let me do this? And I felt the Lord just say this, that because you were available, your availability is a powerful thing, that you're just available for the Lord to use you, that he's not looking for the qualities. He's not looking. Oh, hey, here's a good speaker. He's not looking. Oh, there's a charismatic character that I can really use him or her. Here's a person with great skills. The Lord's going to come. Okay, I can use him because of his skills, but he uses those that are available.

Speaker 1:

He didn't force himself on this rich young man. He said follow me. And the man got sad and he decided to go another way because he was wealthy, the cares of this world. He didn't know what was going to happen if he would let go of his wealth. He didn't know what was going to happen if he would take Jesus at his word and actually do what Jesus promised. He said come, follow me. If you follow Jesus, that's what he said here for Peter and the other disciples. He said you're going to get a hundredfold if you've left anything. So you know you'll get it with persecution, but you will get a hundredfold. You will get a hundredfold, but it's your choice.

Speaker 1:

Matthew said wow, I can't believe Jesus stopped at my booth. I cannot believe Jesus stopped at my booth. I'm going to follow him for the rest of my life, and the rest is history. What are you going to do If you have very little? Well, the greater the testimony. Jesus knows how much you have. He knows how much you have, better than you know how much you have. And yet he's calling you. Yet he's calling many people today, and it's so valuable. It's so valuable what God's going to do through you. And let me pray for you and then I'll give you a challenge after that.

Speaker 1:

Father, thank you for everyone whom you called Lord, those that you put your hand on and you've spoken and given them dreams, visions, guidance. You've spoken to them, even audibly. You've spoken to them with a still small voice and you've said then come and follow me. Lord, I thank you that, as they take the steps of obedience in the name of Jesus, everything is going to turn out good. I thank you for heavenly provision. I thank you for family situations to be organized, job situations, as they take steps in faith. I thank you, lord, that you will get the glory and they will fulfill everything you have for them in Jesus name, amen.

Speaker 1:

If this message was directly for you and you know that you have the call from heaven, I want to give you this challenge. There's a preparation time that one of my Bible school teachers would always say that preparation time is never wasted time and I want you to make plans. It wasn't easy for the rich young man. He decided to go another way and, if you look at it in the natural, it wasn't easy for Matthew, but he decided to follow Jesus. What are you going to do?

Speaker 1:

We have the Bible school for this reason is for you to be able to grow and you're going to be able to get rid of some things that are holding you back in your life. Get rid of all the weird things in your life flaky doctrines, things that don't produce fruit. Jesus is a fruit inspector. He looks for fruit. He wants to see fruit in your life and many things in our lives. The lack of fruit is just the reason why we believe the way we believe.

Speaker 1:

A lot of things that Christians believe are tradition and they're religion. It's not the word of God and that cannot produce fruit. So there's work god wants to do in you cleansing work, um, you know, tearing down. Jeremiah got the word from the lord that it's time to pull, pull out and root out and then to rebuild. So there is, there's, there's, there's. There's a work the lord does in you. And then building by the Word of God so that you can do what the Lord has called you to do, even if you don't feel like, hey well, tommy, I don't feel like I'm called to a full-time ministry. I don't think I'm ever going to be an evangelist. That's okay.

Speaker 1:

I encourage everybody to take one year, to take time in the Bible school, get their foundation right and let the Lord speak to you. We thought we'd just go for Bible school for one year 20 years ago. We ended up being three years in Bible school and then ended up serving at the ministry, serving the man and a woman of God, for another seven years and after that the Lord called us to go and come back to Finland to start the church. We prepared for 10 years and we were involved in the kingdom and we were involved in revival, and I'm so thankful for that time. And now it's been over 10 years that we've been back in Finland and we've seen many people answer the call, and I want you to value the call of God. It's very valuable.

Speaker 1:

As time goes by, it just becomes more and more important. We've seen many people with their own opinions. They come around every now and then they come around every two to three years and they always seem to have new plans and new things. They come around and we're not here to control people. People do what they want to do. We're just here to deliver the word of god and say this is what the word says, and and the word that I had for this morning was is the words of jesus come and follow me, come and follow him and let the word work in your life. But the truth is you're on the winner's side. Greater one lives on the inside. God is for you.