CALLED
WHEN ARE WE
CALLED?
WHO ACTUALLY
CALLS US?
WHEN ARE WE
CHOSEN?
HOW DO WE
BECOME COUNTED AS FAITHFUL?
The amazing
answers are contained in the following pages, it is
vitally important that we
know the above answers if we are to be in God’s
kingdom. If we are God’s people
we must take our calling very seriously.
CALLED
When God calls us
we come out of the world and become separate, we must
still live in the world
but we can distance ourselves from the ways of the
world. We
are not of the world, our thoughts and
actions and the way we live our life should mirror
God’s ways, we should not go
along with the world and all its wrong ways, actions
and thinking. Our
calling is a type of the Israelites
leaving
When God calls us
we are able to understand a certain amount and obey to
a small degree but we
desire more. We need the Holy Spirit of promise. We
are able to comply to God
and His laws in a limited way, but once God opens our
minds and calls us, we
desire to have God’s Spirit in us.
Before pressing
on we need a period of time to delve into the bible
and see if what we have
been taught is correct. We must be like the Bereans.
Act
17:10 Then
the brethren immediately sent
Paul and Silas away by night to
Act
17:11 These
were more fair-minded than
those in Thessalonica, in that they received the
word with all readiness, and
searched the Scriptures daily to find
out whether these things were so.
This calling must
be treated seriously, we need to be thorough in our
study and investigations,
we must prove things to ourselves conclusively that
what we know is the truth
and that we are prepared to believe it. We must have
this solid foundation
before we can build any character at all that is worth
having.
We must have fear
of God, we must believe God and what the bible says,
we must have faith in what
we believe is true, and we must believe that this
calling to be a firstfruit is
the most precious, honourable and valuable possession
anyone could ever be
offered in the entire universe.
We must also
count the cost, we must know what this precious
calling entails. It
is not the popular route to travel, amongst
family and friends, it is not the easy road. It will
be hard, it entails study,
prayer, fasting, meditation, and a great deal of
effort to change, and grow, to
overcome, to grow in knowledge, love, understanding,
wisdom, faith. All of this
requires a great deal of effort, there is much more to
overcome than I have
mentioned here, many things to change, we must
continue to examine ourselves
and try to grow spiritually until the day we die, this
is not a part time
exercise. God’s calling is a full time love that
requires daily attention with
great zeal.
Luk
14:28 For
which of you, intending to build a tower, does not
sit down first and count the
cost, whether he has enough
to
finish it
Once we have
truly counted the cost, and we are sure we can finish
the race, once we fully
understand what is required of us then we come to the
point where we need to be
baptised.
So it was with
the Israelites, they left
Rom
6:3 Or
do you not know that as many of
us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into His death?
Rom
6:4 Therefore
we were buried with Him
through baptism into death, that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life.
Rom
6:5 For
if we have been united together
in the likeness of His death, certainly we also
shall be in
the likeness of His
resurrection,
When we are first
called, we have that first love, that excitement, we
can suddenly understand
the bible, but unfortunately for some the parable of
the sower must be applied.
Mat
13:3 Then
He spoke many things to them
in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower
went out to sow.
Mat
13:4 And
as he sowed, some seed
fell by the wayside; and the
birds came and devoured them.
Mat
13:5
Some fell on stony
places, where they did not have much earth; and they
immediately sprang up
because they had no depth of earth.
Mat
13:6
But when the sun was
up they were scorched, and because they had no root
they withered away.
Mat
13:7
And some fell among
thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.
Mat
13:8
But others fell on
good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold,
some sixty, some thirty.
Mat
13:9
He who has ears to
hear, let him hear!"
We see that the
calling of God is treated by people in different ways,
the 1st group has very
little interest, the next group had an interest, but
if that belief led to
changes and becoming uncomfortable, they just gave up.
The 3rd group was too
busy with the cares of this world, and had other gods
before the one true God.
The final group actually loved God’s calling and they
tried hard to prove
faithful to God, but as we see some tried harder than
others.
However, God
calls many, and then He watches carefully to see what
those people will do with
this precious gift. Many are called, few are chosen.
Mat
22:14 "For
many are called, but few are
chosen."
Once we are
baptised we receive the Spirit of promise, or the
earnest of the Spirit.
Eph
1:13 In
Him you also trusted,
after you heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also,
having believed, you were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Eph
1:14 who
is the guarantee of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, to the praise of
His glory.
This Spirit of
Promise, or Earnest of the Spirit is a down payment,
of God’s Spirit, this
enables us to obey His laws, overcome, grow and
produce fruit in our lives it
enables us to become what ever God wants of us, we
will be able to achieve a
great deal of what God requires of us with this small
down payment. We will
have love, faith, mercy, knowledge, understanding, and
the ability to obey God,
just how much will depend on how much we use the Holy
Spirit and grow, how much
we pray, how much we study the bible and believe what
we see, and how much
effort we put into our spiritual calling. Be
aware that we do have what
it takes to please God if we do our part. If we put
little effort into our
calling we will not receive much back in return. If we
are zealous, believe
God, obey Him and Fear Him, expect much growth in our
spiritual lives.
What a shame some
people just are indifferent about the precious calling
of the Creator of the
whole Universe. A great invitation from the Almighty
to join His family and
together with Him and His Son, rule the entire
Universe, is considered by some
as nothing.
How can such an
important invitation be cast off and counted as
nothing, when this calling
should be the most valued and the most prized
possession on the face of the
earth.
Do we understand
exactly what our calling is? If we do, if we truly
understand what the extent
of the invitation from the Creator is, then how can we
be indifferent about it?
How can that attitude exist in us today?
Understand this
point, that once we begin to understand the bible, and
believe what it says,
God is calling us from that point. If we desire to go
on and be baptised, after
we have counted the cost, as is explained previously,
we are headed towards a
closer relationship with God through the receiving of
the Holy Spirit of
Promise.
God the Father is
the one who calls us there is no other way.
Joh
6:44 No one
can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws
him; and I will raise him up
at the last day.
Once we start to
understand the bible, and believe and obey God, we are
baptised and receive the
Spirit of Promise, we are called.
When we are
baptised {a type of Crossing the
Eph
1:13 In
Him you also trusted,
after you heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also,
having believed, you were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Eph
1:14 who
is the guarantee of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, to the praise of
His glory.
2Co
5:5 Now
He who has prepared us for this very
thing is
God, who also has
given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Once we receive
the Earnest of the Spirit we are tested to see if we
obey, believe and trust
God. {This is a type of wandering in the wilderness.}
This process could take
many years. We need to be tested. We have to face many
trials and tribulations
to see if we obey. Some of the main things God is
looking for are: do we fear
Him and do we believe Him.
Once God is
satisfied with us, once He feels our heart is right
before Him, and our thoughts
and motives are pure, He then reveals to us the
knowledge of eternal life.
When we accept
this knowledge, we are showing Him that we want
eternal life, it is a type of the
Promised Land. Like
Joshua and Caleb,
who brought back a good report of the Promised Land.
The spies who brought back
a bad report are a type of people today who will not
accept the truth about eternal
life, they lack the belief to enter into the Promised
Land.
Heb
3:16 For
who, having heard, rebelled?
Indeed, was
it not all who came
out of
Heb
3:17 Now
with whom was He angry forty
years? Was
it not with those
who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
Heb
3:18 And
to whom did He swear that they
would not enter His rest, but to those who did not
obey?
Heb
3:19 So
we see that they could not enter
in because of unbelief.
Don’t say, oh
that only applies to the Israelites, not us today.
Nothing could be further
from the truth, All of those things happened for
examples for us today. So we
won’t fall into the same trap.
1Co 10:11 Now all
these things happened to them as
examples, and they were written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the
ages have come.
Heb
4:11 Let
us therefore be diligent to
enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the
same example of
disobedience.
Heb
4:12 For
the word of God is
living and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the
division of soul and spirit, and
of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the
heart.
Unbelief is a
dreadful sin.
Once we show God
we want to enter the Promised Land, we want to cross
the
What has happened
to our loved ones who were baptised and have since
turned back to
This has probably
caused many of us to suffer in anguish as we
contemplate their fate. If they
failed to repent and turn back to God, we have always
believed that the
Read on and
rejoice in the wonderful mercy of our God.
The truth is that
these people would not have received the Holy Spirit
of power they only get
this once they believe and accept the knowledge of
eternal life. This
knowledge is only being revealed to the end time
church now, it has been lost
until now, it is now being restored.
So we see in
God’s
great mercy, that He has tested them, found them
wanting, and although they had
the Holy Spirit of promise, they will not be in the
What a wonderful,
loving, merciful God, we have who knows what is
ultimately the best for us,
whatever our state. He
looks to our
ultimate salvation and eternal life.
Heb
10:26 For
if we sin willfully after we
have received the knowledge of the truth, there no
longer remains a sacrifice
for sins,
Heb
10:27 but
a certain fearful expectation
of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour
the adversaries.
Heb
10:28 Anyone
who has rejected Moses' law
dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses.
Heb
10:29 Of
how much worse punishment, do
you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has
trampled the Son of God
underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by
which he was sanctified a common
thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
Heb
10:30 For
we know Him who said,
"VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord.
And again,
"THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE."
Heb
10:31 It
is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God.
Even though these
people will not be thrown in the
There is a way
that seems right to a man, but the end is the ways of
death.
Scripture states
that a person must have had the Holy Spirit of power
and wilfully sin and
trample underfoot the Son of God or blasphemed the
Holy Spirit, before that
individual is sentenced to the
So we see most
clearly that our loved ones, who were once baptised
will not be in the
All the people
God calls have the ability to succeed in their
calling.
2Pe
1:5 But
also for this very reason,
giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to
virtue knowledge,
2Pe
1:6 to
knowledge self-control, to
self-control perseverance, to perseverance
godliness,
2Pe
1:7 to
godliness brotherly kindness, and
to brotherly kindness love.
2Pe
1:8 For
if these things are yours and
abound, you
will be neither
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
2Pe
1:9 For
he who lacks these things is shortsighted,
even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was
cleansed from his old sins.
2Pe
1:10 Therefore,
brethren, be even more
diligent to make your call and election sure, for if
you do these things you
will never stumble;
We see that if we
put forward the effort we will not fail. Some people
do not put God first, they
put little value on this most precious of all gifts.
Mat
6:33 But
seek first the
Also some people
did not think it was all that important to be a doer
of the word instead of a
hearer.
Jas
1:23 For
if anyone is a hearer of the
word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his
natural face in a mirror;
Jas
1:24 for
he observes himself, goes away,
and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
Jas
1:25 But
he who looks into the perfect
law of liberty and continues in it,
and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the
work, this one will be blessed
in what he does.
If we are to succeed we must take our calling
seriously and put forward a
great deal of effort. I repeat again all the people
God calls have the ability
to make it into the kingdom. What are we doing to make
our calling and election
sure?
Php
1:6 being
confident of this very thing,
that He who has begun a good work in you will
complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Mat
19:26 But
Jesus looked at them and
said to them, "With
men this is impossible, but with God all things are
possible."
2Pe
1:10 Therefore,
brethren, be even more
diligent to make your call and election sure, for if
you do these things you
will never stumble;
Did
you notice that, read
it again, firstly we are to make our calling sure and
then our election, this
is two different phases of our spiritual path, our
election is the same as
being chosen, it is what has been discussed above.
called, chosen, and faithful.
How clear, our election is to be chosen. There is
simplicity in Christ.
God simply will
not give His precious Holy Spirit of power to anyone
who is half hearted, or
lukewarm.
Rev
3:15 "I
know your works, that you are neither cold nor
hot. I could wish you were cold
or hot.
That is why the
Spirit of promise is given first, to see if the called
ones are genuine. After
a great deal of testing, God decides to give His Holy
Spirit, of power to those
that obey Him.
God must be
careful, He is so very merciful and wise, He is
thinking about us all the time.
Remember God does not want any to perish.
2Pe
3:9 The
Lord is not slack concerning His
promise, as some count slackness,
but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any
should perish but that all
should come to repentance.
God gives us all
we need to be successful in our calling.
Mat
25:14 "For
the
kingdom of heaven is like a
man traveling to a far country, who
called his own servants and delivered his goods to
them.
Mat
25:15 And to
one he gave five talents, to another two, and to
another one, to each according
to his own ability; and immediately he went on a
journey.
Mat
25:16 Then he
who had received the five talents went and traded
with them, and made another
five talents.
Mat
25:17 And
likewise he who had received
two gained two more also.
Mat
25:18 But he
who had received one went and dug in the ground,
and hid his lord's money.
Mat
25:19 After a
long time the lord of those servants came and
settled accounts with them.
Mat
25:20 "So
he who had received five talents came and brought
five other talents, saying,
'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I
have gained five more talents
besides them.'
Mat
25:21 His
lord said to him, 'Well done,
good and faithful servant; you were faithful over
a few things, I will make you
ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your
lord.'
Mat
25:22 He also
who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord,
you delivered to me two
talents; look, I have gained two more talents
besides them.'
Mat
25:23 His
lord said to him, 'Well done,
good and faithful servant; you have been faithful
over a few things, I will
make you ruler over many things. Enter into the
joy of your lord.'
Mat
25:24 "Then
he who had received the one talent came and said,
'Lord, I knew you to be a
hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and
gathering where you have not
scattered seed.
Mat
25:25 And I
was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the
ground. Look, there
you have what
is yours.'
Mat
25:26 "But
his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and
lazy servant, you knew that
I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I
have not scattered seed.
Mat
25:27 So you
ought to have deposited my money with the bankers,
and at my coming I would
have received back my own with interest.
Mat
25:28 So take
the talent from him, and give it
to him who has ten talents.
Mat
25:29 'For to
everyone who has, more will be given, and he will
have abundance; but from him
who does not have, even what he has will be taken
away.
Mat
25:30 And
cast the unprofitable servant into the outer
darkness. There will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.'
These scriptures
show some people value the precious calling of God
above all else, they work
hard to be profitable stewards, sadly though, some are
barely interested and do
nothing with what God gives them, God calls them
wicked and lazy and what God
had originally given to them was taken from them.
To examine
ourselves is hard, to change is hard. We must never
forget that our inner
feelings, our hearts and motives, are all open to God.
We can’t
hide these things from God. He is all
knowing.
The stakes are
just too high, eternal death is the penalty for those
who turn back to
So we see how
vitally important it is for God to be sure about us
when He gives us the Holy
Spirit. This is something that God takes very
seriously and so does the one who
receives the Holy Spirit. The penalties are far too
great for the individual if
they are not really 100% ready willing and able to
receive God’s Spirit. God is
all knowing, He knows who to give His Spirit to and
when to do this.
Once God has
tested us to see if we are ready for the knowledge of
eternal life, once we
accept this knowledge, and receive the Holy Spirit of
power, we are chosen.
Now we are
beginning to see the new knowledge of the huge
difference between being called
and chosen.
1Pe
2:9 But
you are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, His
own special people, that you may proclaim the
praises of Him who called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light;
FAITHFUL
Once we are
chosen,
the Holy Spirit can work mightily in us if we are led
by it.
Rom 8:14 For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God,
these are sons of God.
But along with
this added power comes a much greater testing period
and persecution. To whom
much is given, much is expected.
Luk
12:48 But he
who did not know, yet committed things deserving
of stripes, shall be beaten
with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from
him much will be required;
and to whom much has been committed, of him they
will ask the more.
We can’t do
anything on our own we need God to help us, every day
we must ask God to help
us overcome, grow, to have faith, love, wisdom,
knowledge, understanding and to
be led by the Spirit and to indeed give us His spirit.
Once we have the
Holy Spirit of power, which is eternal life inherent,
we must be put through a
final severe testing period. This could take the form
of persecution, mockery,
jail, loss of family and friends, put out of the
church, hated by the world,
perhaps put to death. This is the period of making the
bride ready, and being
without spot and blemish {this is a type of the lambs
which were sacrificed for
the Passover, they had no spot or blemish} and
becoming Holy as our Father is
Holy.
1Pe
1:16 because
it is written, "BE HOLY,
FOR I AM HOLY."
We must endure to
the end. After we have been successful in this final
testing we are then
faithful.
Rev
17:14 These
will make war with the Lamb,
and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of
lords and King of kings; and
those who
are with Him are
called, chosen, and
faithful."
1Co 4:1 Let a man
so consider us, as servants of
Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
1Co
4:2 Moreover
it is required in stewards
that one be found faithful.
We see here that
it is required of stewards that they be found
faithful. We have a tremendous
responsibility for all eternity, once we are faithful,
we will be Kings and
Priests forever, we will be responsible for millions
of people and showing them
God’s way. How could God give this fabulous honour to
someone who was
indifferent about His calling?
Once we are
called and chosen, we then must endure to the end,
then we are faithful.
Rev
17:14 These
will make war with the Lamb,
and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of
lords and King of kings; and
those who
are with Him are
called, chosen, and
faithful."
Mat
7:13 "Enter
by the narrow gate; for wide is
the gate and broad is the
way
that leads to destruction, and there are many who
go in by it.
Mat
7:14 Because
narrow is
the gate and
difficult is the
way which
leads to life, and there are few who find it.
This scripture
also indicates that the number of saints will be very
few indeed, plus there
will not be much faith at the end either.
Luk
18:8 I tell
you that He will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes,
will He really find faith on the earth?"
Very few since
the creation of man have had the desire to believe and
obey God, whatever the
consequences to them. Very few will put God before the
pursuit of what this
world has to offer. Very few will put in the time to
study and change into
someone who God can use in His kingdom. Are you one of
the very few, or are you
one of the 5 virgins who slept and neglected to fill
their lamps with oil?
Mat 25:1 "Then the
kingdom of heaven shall be
likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went
out to meet the
bridegroom.
Mat
25:2
Now five of them were
wise, and five were
foolish.
Mat
25:3
Those who were
foolish took their lamps and
took no oil with them,
Mat
25:4
but the wise took oil
in their vessels with their lamps.
Mat
25:5
But while the
bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and
slept.
Mat
25:6
"And at midnight
a cry was heard:
'Behold, the
bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!'
Mat
25:7
Then all those
virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
Mat
25:8
And the foolish said
to the wise, 'Give us some of
your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
Mat
25:9
But the wise
answered, saying, 'No, lest
there should not be enough for us and you; but go
rather to those who sell, and
buy for yourselves.'
Mat
25:10
And while they went
to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were
ready went in with him to the
wedding; and the door was shut.
Mat
25:11
"Afterward the
other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open
to us!'
Mat
25:12
But he answered and
said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.'
Mat
25:13
"Watch
therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour
in which the Son of Man is
coming.
Remember the
parable of the virgins, they all slept, we have all
been sound asleep for a
good while. Now we must wake up and be ready to go
forth and meet the
bridegroom.
BEHOLD THE
BRIDEGROOM!
