The Miracle of Our Calling

Let's go over to Acts chapter 9, because here we have what to me is just a phenomenal story, an inspiring story, and it's an instructive story. It has to do with the calling of a man whose name was Saul, but then was changed to Paul. Acts chapter 1, just to refresh our minds, we realize that this Saul, verse 1, still breathing, threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, the way is a phrase that we find in the book of Acts more than once that refers to those who have converted to Christianity, the followers of this Jesus.

Whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. He was one who took that calling seriously, but he was just about to be given a different calling. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.

Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? Because obviously he did not know the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goats. The goats are a livestock prod. They made them out of a length of wood and often had a piece of metal stuck through it. It was kind of a prod to get the cattle moving or to get the ox moving. You may remember back in the book of Judges who was it?

Shamgar, tough dude, took one of those and killed, what, 3,000 Philistines, a bunch of Philistines. So it's a picture as if a cow, an ox, is being prodded along and it kicks back at that in resistance. And that's what Saul had been doing up to this point. And so he trembling and astonished and said, Lord, what do you want me to do? Then Lord said to him, arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.

And the men who drained with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, saying, No one. Then Saul arose from the ground and when his eyes were opened he saw no one but they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. He was three days without sight and neither ate nor drank. Well, that goes to the story of Ananias, God speaking to Ananias. Ananias, I always chuckle in verse 13 when Ananias answered and said, you know, we've heard some bad things about this guy.

Are you sure you want him to have his vision back? Anyhow, verse 15, the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. And we're students of the Scriptures. We do know that Paul suffered many, many, many things. He lists them, if you want to go to 2 Corinthians 12 sometime, he lists the things he went through, the times he was beaten, the time he was shipwrecked, the time he was stoned and they thought he was dead, and later he went right back into the same city.

Well, the story goes on. And in verse 18, Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once and he arose and was baptized. And it goes on with the story of how he immediately began preaching Christ in the synagogues that he is, the Son of God, and the people there, understandably, were fearful of him. It took a while because they remembered this man and what he had done.

What a dramatic story! In this case, Saul's eyes literally were opened physically and spiritually that he could see what had been there. He was a professional in the study of the Holy Scriptures, which would have been the Old Testament at that time, as we call it.

And suddenly he could see what he could never see before. One of the basic beliefs of the church that we've talked about, at least my whole life in the church, has been the miracle of God's calling. And that's what I want to speak with you about today, the miracle of our calling. And it really is a miracle. From one end of the Bible, we have one miracle after another. We have axe heads that float on water. We have the filling of containers of oil that never ran out. We have waters open. We have waters of a sea open. We have waters pouring out of rock. We have people who were dead, raised back to life. Lazarus come forth. We have one miracle after another. But it's been suggested that perhaps God's greatest miracle is the opening, the calling of a human being, the opening of the mind, the opening of our eyes, so that we can see what is and has been right there in the pages of the Bible all along, but we were blinded.

Now, when we address the subject of the miracle of our calling, we have a number of questions that need to be addressed. Once that calling comes to us, we really only find happiness when we start responding to it. Most of us have our own story.

We've tried to run from God's calling. There are times we try to put it on the back burner. There are times we try to ignore it and hope it will go away. But the truth of God, the calling of God, has a way of haunting us. I've known people who have known the truth. They've known it in their heart of hearts, but they just put it off and put it off and put it off. Well, I think, in the resurrection, they'll hit the ground running. But it's something we can do. Running from it has a way of haunting us and following us. Our understanding of the miracle of God's calling also determines how we preach the gospel, because we have questions related, such as, is God calling everyone today? If God is calling everyone today, and there are six billion people, excuse me, seven billion people on this earth, then the church is doing a pretty poor job.

And for that matter, you can also say, when Jesus himself walked the earth, he did a pretty poor job, because only about 120 were gathered there on the day of Pentecost. We read of in Acts 1 and 2, about 120. And yet he spoke to thousands of different times. Is this the only day of salvation? I think that's something we need to touch upon. Because when we realize, no, this is our day of salvation, those whom God has called, it helps in understanding it's not the day of salvation for everybody else out there in the world. They simply are not being called. They are not being judged. And God is not going to forget them. He has a plan whereby He wants everyone to be saved.

A major concept of the Christian world around us is that God is trying to save everyone today.

The flaw to that is the implication that if someone doesn't hear about Christ, if someone doesn't come to understand and act upon it today, that they will be burning forever as they see it and never burning hellfire, which is not a biblical teaching either. Look at the world today.

Seven billion people, I understand, we've passed that mark in the last year or two.

Looked up on a website as far as the the various the numbers of various religions.

At the top still is Christianity. 2.1 billion. Somewhere around 33, you know, a little over a third, actually it's a little higher now, a little around around a third say profess that they are Christian. That's a lot of people. And yet how many people who say they're Christian don't go to church?

They don't go to church the right day. They don't do what Jesus did.

We have approximately one and a half billion. So somewhere around one fifth, one and a half billion people adhere to Islam, which is the fastest growing religion in the world.

And I love the latest Good News magazine. If you haven't read those articles, read those.

It is serious. It is serious. We have a war of a clash of civilizations and religions.

And at any rate, there are so many people around us who want to turn a blind eye toward what Islam is all about. We have another one and a half billion that adhere to a variety of Eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. You've got various Chinese traditional religions like Confucianism, Shintoism, and others. In India, there is another one billion who are in religions where they have never even heard of, perhaps, the name Jesus Christ. So we can easily say that, well, more than one half of those who walk the earth today have not really even heard of the only name under heaven whereby we can be saved, as the Apostle Peter said there in Acts 4, verse 12.

We're not even considering those who, in some countries of Africa, North America, South America, parts of Asia, who for generations have lived, and their tradition has been that of, ignorantly, worshiping the creation. They worship trees and rocks and all kinds of things. We had Native Americans, and it was Mother Earth, and they worshiped a variety of animals.

They've never heard of Jesus Christ, so what is their future? The idea that this is the only day of salvation, or the only period of time where there can be salvation, leaves a lot of people on the outside. Would a loving God not provide for these peoples? Well, let's turn now to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. We see here where the Apostle Paul quotes from a scripture, a passage back in Isaiah. And yet, as we will see, the way it is quoted and the way it is in our Bibles, the wording has changed, and it only takes one little word to change the meaning.

2 Corinthians 6. And let's begin in verse 1. We then, as workers together with him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, now in most Bibles, it may be in italics and it may be indented somewhat, as it is in mine, but it says, in an acceptable time, I have heard you in Acts, quoting from Isaiah 49 verse 8, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Then Paul writes, that's the end of the quote from Isaiah. Paul writes, Behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation.

Now granted, he's writing the brethren of the church of God in Corinth. They had been called, and if they're sitting there warming a chair, they had acted on that calling, and they had been placed in the body of Christ. And it was their time to be judged.

You see, some will look at this scripture and they'll say, well, this is the time for all the world to be judged. And that's not exactly what Isaiah wrote. So let's go back to Isaiah 49.

Isaiah 49, and we'll read in verse 8. 49 verse 8, thus says the Lord, In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Now I'm reading from the new King James.

If you would go back to the King James, it says, In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you. We can check other versions. As one example, the American Standard reads, In an acceptable time have I answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you. By changing the article from an indefinite A or N to a definite the, it changes the meaning. It gives the indication that this is the day when people have to respond or they're lost forever. But if we look at it from the point of view of how Isaiah wrote it, that it's indefinite. There's a day of salvation.

Paul wrote to Corinth, and it was their day. Those of us here today who have had God's calling and received God's Spirit, been forgiven, this is our day. This is the day of salvation for us. We're being judged right now. But with the rest of the world, it is a matter that they simply are not being called. And Christ is not a butterfingers. He's not like me the last time somebody pitched a basketball at me and I dropped it. He's not going to let anybody slip out of their hands.

God has a plan that covers every last person who lives or will yet live.

2 Corinthians should be, since it's quoting from Isaiah, it should be consistent with the statement of Isaiah. Let's go to 2 Peter 3. And I think we looked at this two weeks ago when I was here, but let's notice it again. 2 Peter 3 and read verse 9. 2 Peter 3 verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise at some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us. Thank God that he is so patient with us, because we make the same mistakes over and over.

Not willing, but any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

And so from the very creation all the way across what is close to 6,000 years, we've had human beings on this earth and we've had multiple hundreds of millions, if not billions, who have lived and died and never ever heard the name of Jesus Christ and hence never received the calling of God. That's where so many in the Christian world around us teach that this is their day, and if they aren't reached and if they don't accept Jesus in their heart or make some kind of profession, they're lost forever. But God has a plan. God has a purpose. God, as we covered again two weeks ago, God has a purpose for the human family of creating eternal members of His very family. Now, you may just want to make a note of this one. I'll refer briefly to Hebrews 2, verses 10 and 11. Hebrews 2, verses 10 and 11, because that's where it says, speaking of the working of Jesus Christ, in bringing many sons to glory. So if we consider what I think are two significant principles here to address, this is not, as many profess, this is not the day of salvation for everyone. It is the day of salvation for those who are called and chosen and placed in the very body of Christ. We're being judged now. That's what Peter said, 1 Peter 4, verse 17. The time is now that judgment has come of the house of God. And then another principle, secondly, is we've seen God desires everyone to come to repentance and be saved. Now, let's consider the fact that the annual Holy Days give us a tremendous insight. The Church of God observes the annual Holy Days. Let's just turn back to Leviticus 23. The Holy Days begin with us.

Before we know it, we'll be coming to the Pass overnight.

And we'll come to the days of Unleavened Bread. And then weeks later, we'll come to the day of Pentecost. But in Leviticus 23, notice the beginning of verse 1. It begins with the weekly Sabbath and then it goes to the annual Sabbath. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, The Feasts. Now, the Hebrew word there is Moed, M-O-E-D, as it's transliterated or some transliterated, M-O-W-E-D. And it means appointed times. There are certain appointed times. This Sabbath day is a weekly appointed time. The annual Holy Days fall throughout the years, seven different distinct annual Sabbaths. And those are God's appointed times as well. The Feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations.

And that's from, that's from, convocations is from the Hebrew word, Mikra, M-I-Q-R-A, Mikra.

And it means something called out, a public meeting, a rehearsal, an assembly.

And so, as we apply it to the Sabbath day, you and I are instructed, we are commanded, to come and appear before God on the Sabbath day, to assemble together. If we're sick, thankfully, we have things like webcasting, and we can, we can be at home where we shouldn't be passing along whatever we have to others. And we can, we can watch online anymore over the, over the Internet, Sabbath services somewhere. But by and large, if we're healthy, if we're at all possible, able to do it, we come to church. Continuing, these are my Feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it, for it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the Feasts of the Lord, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. And then in verse 5, it begins with a Passover, and we don't need to rehearse this. We're so familiar with that.

The Holy Days begin with the day that commemorates the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The Lamb of God came and not only gave his life's blood for us, but died in a horrible manner to fulfill a prophecy of Isaiah that it is by his stripes were healed.

And then we moved immediately to the Days of Unleavened Bread, where we strive with the help of God to walk the unleavened life and all that that represents. And then weeks later, we celebrate the Day of Pentecost, the day that in Acts 2, the Spirit of God was poured out upon God's people, and we began to be changed. Because changing is a process. It's a never-ending process.

We began to be changed into completely different people. Our focus was different and changed.

And then we have a long time through the summer until we get to the fall, and we have the Feasts to Trumpets, Feasts to Trumpets, that reminds us of the return of Christ, because with the shout of the archangel, the last trumpet, Christ returns, the dead in Christ's rise, the saints living will be changed. And then on through the fall holy days. So there is so much here that is taught by the festivals. And God uses various methods of teaching, and man has learned some of the same methods. We instruct. We hear, rather. We see. It helps to see with our eyes.

Man has found that learning is just magnified when we can not only hear, but we can see it with our eyes. And it's important that we do that. We repeat. We write things down, take notes.

It enhances learning. But true learning really takes off when we start doing.

And in the psalm it says, a good understanding of those that do his law, and nothing shall offend them. Doing the law of God. So the festivals tell us about the plan of God. And the plan of God has to do with the salvation of every person who lives, will live, or has ever lived. Is it possible that the majority will not be given an opportunity until after Christ returns, and even after the millennium? Well, yes, it is. We look at it through lenses that we're given 70 or 80 years, perhaps, on an average to live. We see everything through those lenses. We're temporary. God's looking at eternity. A day says a thousand years means nothing to him. He's looking at the desired end result. Let's go back to the idea of this calling, this concept of a calling.

The main Greek word in the New Testament that is translated call is calleo, transliterated as K-A-L-E-O. And it means to invite. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 1. Of course, you remember the ministry of Jesus Christ when it began. He began beckoning to certain ones, calling certain ones, follow me. He called them to come and share in the ministry of being not fishers of fish, but fishers of men. 1 Corinthians 1 and in verse 26, it says, For you see your calling, brethren, and not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble or cold. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world. You know, I think He's talking about us there.

Let us have no illusion about that. He is to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. We have here call and then calling. The Greek word translated calling is kleitos. K-L-E-T-O-S. And it means an invitation.

An invitation. Now, the world's changing, but this June Mrs. Donson will have put up with me for 40 years. And I'm sure it only feels like 56 to her. But before we married down down this little crossroads called Birmingham, she sent out invitations. She made she had such a beautiful handwriting. I married so much better than she did. Beautiful schoolteachers handwriting, and she handwrote those invitations and sent them out. And the person receiving one of those in the mail, you have an invitation to come to a great event. I guess it was a great event. I think I was in some kind of a male hormonal stupor, and I don't remember much of it, but you know, that's a guy thing. I just remember I said I do it the right time, and that's what I was interested in.

Well, a lot of things. But the invitation that you became to your mailbox, or any formal event, a formal reception, that invitation serves no purpose if it's just, you know, thrown it with the mail and it ends up in your box. And if you hold your hand, lay it on the table or pitch it, serves no purpose at all. Christ said many are called, but few are chosen. And for years, the Church of God has, like the sower of the seed, strewn the seed far and wide. That's our job to sow the seeds. Put it out there. But what we don't have control over, we can't save the world, we can't call anyone. We can only respond to the calling God gave us. But if that person receives that invitation, opens it up, reads it, and then says, you know, I'd like to do this.

See, then God's calling is like that. And the story, everyone has a different story.

My father, when I was about seven years old, got to the end of a Reader's Digest article, and down at the bottom, if you had a little, you know, the article ended, you had a little extra space, they'd put little quips or little advertisements. And one day, he finished an article, and down at the bottom, it said, Are you interested in the plain truth? And the words just left off the page and got his attention. And he said he found a piece of paper, and he wrote a letter, and there's a little address there in Pasadena, California, and he mailed it off. And that started a process that has been going on for a long time, 55 years or so, you know, within my family. There have been people who tell stories of walking down the street of a city and the wind gusting, and some piece of paper flies up against their leg, and they reach down to get it off. And it's a book, it's a magazine. If God wants somebody, he's going to find you. We asked Jonah about how successful we can be from running from that calling. But God will find us. And if we're given that invitation, yeah, we can try to ignore it and hope it'll go away. But it has a way of haunting. It calls to you, it beckons you, until we do respond to that. But we have to pick it up.

Jesus Christ came. We read, not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And most people are familiar with John 3, 16, God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. And it went on that God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. But to be saved, we have to know about Jesus Christ. That's where Acts 4, verse 12 comes in. No other name whereby men are saved. How is it possible to truly know Christ in this lifetime? Well, that gets back to the calling. The calling that God sends, and the calling comes from the Father. And it is a rare privilege. It should not place us on a high horse. It should not cause us to be all puffed up, that I know the truth. I think sometimes we, without knowing, can come across that way, and it's unhealthy. We're spotlighting Himself. We're only here because of the calling of God. He's the one, you know, Moses wanted to see. He wanted to see God. And God put Him back on the cleft of the rock, and as He passed by, holding His hand, so Moses could just see a little.

That's where He said, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. And for whatever reason, God decided to have mercy on us. And we don't know why. I'm glad He did. You're glad He did.

What a marvelous calling it is. Now, the calling of God is not always a cakewalk, is it? It's not just a walk in the park. It's not the wide gate that Jesus spoke of, leaving to disruption. That's the way the world goes, and that's the easy way. But there's a difficult gate. There's a narrow, straight gate. It's the tough road to hope that we've been called to. It is a privilege. Notice here in John 3. John 3, Jesus spoke with Nicodemus. And Nicodemus struggled with some of the things that Christ said. John 3, verse 1, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to see Jesus by night, said to him, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher, come from God. You know, they didn't admit that he was the Messiah who had come, but they knew he was a teacher. He had confounded them many times with what he said. For no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, I have a marginal note and it says, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Well, Nicodemus didn't understand. He said, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Well, that wasn't what Christ was talking about. We have a Christian world around us that likes to go around talking about, well, I'm a born-again Christian because they gave, as they understood it, their life to Christ. They made that commitment and then they're born again and everything they do from that point on can't take their salvation away from them. But that's not what the Scripture says. Even the Apostle Paul said that he disciplines his body, lest when I've preached to so many, I would become a castaway. And the Scripture warns us, don't neglect so great a salvation. So we have warnings that it's not once called always, you know, once saved, always saved and all of that, because it's the beginning. It's a new birth, not a literal birth, but we become God's people. We're born again in the sense of having the past removed and receiving, as it were, a begettle of the Spirit of God. It begins the process of us growing and developing in the rest of this life so that, ultimately, we can be born of Spirit in the very family of God. Well, Jesus answered, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, so this tells us what he was talking about. The baptism, receipt of the Spirit, the process that follows, that changes that person, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is the Spirit. Then unravel, I say to you, you must be born again. The wind blows, it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but it cannot tell where it comes from, where it goes.

So is everyone who is born from the Spirit. With God's calling, it begins to make sense.

Conversion is a new start. It is a good example. It is as though there is a conception, a little fetus growing within a mother's womb, growing to a point where there's ultimate birth. That's a good one. But there are scriptures that talk about how we are bathed in Christ now as well. And that's a good analogy as well, that we are as children. We start with the milk of the Word, we slowly progress to the meat of the Word, and it's a lifetime of growing and being nurtured until the time when we're given entrance into the very kingdom of God. The miracle of His calling.

We're here in John. Let's go to John 6. The miracle of this calling. Once again, you can't call anyone. I can't call. We can't even call ourselves. And Christ says He doesn't call.

It's the Father. John 6, verse 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. A similar statement is made over in verse 65.

And He said, Therefore, I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to Him by the Father. But notice, verse 66, it was a hard saying. From that time, many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. It was hard for them to stomach. Hard for them to swallow that. What He said was offensive to people. Calling, except for the Apostle Paul and maybe some other examples. Calling is not literally a voice you hear, but it is a miracle of God. There's something that begins to draw you. Something beckons you. Something calls you.

Romans chapter 8. Romans 8, and beginning of verse 29. Romans 8, verse 29 speaks of this process God has begun. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son, that He might be the firstborn of many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined. Not again, as some have concluded, the first predestination and that God decided so long ago and different ages exactly, precisely who He would call, but that there would be this work that would be slinging the seeds of the truth far and wide and predestined the fact that some are going to pick up those seeds and it's going to begin to germinate within them. Whom He foreknew. Okay, verse 30.

Whom He predestined. These He also called. Whom He called. These He also justified. Whom He justified. These He also glorified. Matthew 22. Notice the parable of the wedding with the invitations that went out. Some have been invited and would not come. And that tells us some will, throughout the ages, receive a specific invitation, but they will not respond. And we can't make them respond, much as we may like to. We all have family members. I've sure got some. I'd like to get them to respond to that which they've been exposed to, but they have to do it on their own. Matthew 22, verse 2.

The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son. So we're talking about God the Father. And there is this coming marriage of his son, Jesus Christ, and his bride is to be the church. And it's out of his servants to call those who were invited. And that speaks of the work of God all across the ages, again, the slinging of the seeds of the truth. And they were not willing to come. And as we put the rest of the story together, we realize that the story of Old Testament Israel is that God first began working with them. He began working with Abraham and Abraham's family that grew to be the nation of Israel. And they entered a covenant with God.

They said whatever the Lord says we will do. They were to be a special nation, special treasure to God. But as time went on, we see that they were not willing and they were unable to respond to that which they had committed to or that their fathers had. They were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants saying, tell those who were invited, who are invited, see, I prepared my dinner, my oxen, and fatted cattle are killed, and things are ready, come to the wedding. But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.

But when the king heard about it, he was furious, and he sounded his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, the wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy, therefore go into the highways. And I think this is where you and I come in. Those who were called first didn't respond, and God has now turned, and he's having his servants called far and wide. And as many as you find, invite to the wedding. So the servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. Well, the story goes on where there's one there without the right garment.

In verse 14, many are called, but few are chosen. And the difference is the receipt of that calling has to be that invitation has to be opened, and we have to RSVP, and we have to begin putting one foot in front of the other, walking in the way that that calling takes us. The story through ancient Israel is that the God of the Old Testament was a husband to national Israel, and they repeatedly left. When played the harlot, he'd take her back. And finally, she completely rejected her husband. And the terms are back in Ezekiel 16, and in Jeremiah, the term divorce is used. And God is waiting for people who will respond and who will listen.

There are so many in the world around us who profess Christianity, who simply have never been called. And that's a tough statement for some to deal with. They've never been called.

There are those who have studied. They know the Greek, the Hebrew, the Calvary, and they have studied and written commentaries. And they go so far, and it's like there's vast dimensions of comprehension that's not there. But God's the one who has to open minds. There are those who do lots of admirable Christian works that we should only applaud, relief efforts that are marvelous, but they don't have the understanding. And again, let us never get on our high horse about that.

Calling has to do with understanding. That's one of the things sometimes individuals come to the church and they struggle with that question. Well, it's God calling me. And that's one of the things I point out. Calling has to do with understanding. Your eyes are like Paul scales, as it were, fell from his eyes. And he could see spiritually. And with us, when someone is called, he begins to understand. Most in the world around us, Christian world around us, believe tomorrow is the day to go to church. It goes back a long time. You have, I think it was who it was. The Holovitz history of the early church talked about this age of shadows. There was about a century where the church of God that went behind, went into that shadow. And when it came out 100 years later, the church was vastly different. It wasn't the same church. And events led to where within the Roman Empire you have the backing of the state and the enforcement of worship on Sunday.

And it's come all through these ages. And we have people who just, they get up, they go Sundays the day you go to church. And for the open mind to look and see what the Bible says, it seems so clear that it begins with Genesis 2, with God modeling that behavior, resting and setting that day apart. And it became a part of the law. And Christ, time after time, taught in the synagogue. And He healed and all kinds of wonderful works on the Sabbath. And then we find the early church continuing to keep the Sabbath. We have prophecies in a millennial setting of keeping the Sabbath. But people can't see that. The calling has to do with understanding.

We have a world around us that in no time will be walked into Walmart, my favorite store, walked into Walmart with my Oklahoma State Cowboys cap on. And all of a sudden, here, appears all of the Valentine's Day candies and stuff. I don't want anything to do with that one, but it won't be long. It'll be Easter. And that one I really have a problem with. And Christmas, I really have a problem with that one. You do, too. But Easter, there's no scripture that tells us to celebrate the day of His resurrection. They don't even realize He was resurrected on Sabbath afternoon, not Sunday morning. The women went to the tomb. And while it was still dark and the tomb was open and it was empty, it had already happened. But when you have the calling of God, you begin looking back in Leviticus 23. You start pouring over those holy days and the lights begin to come on us for what it pictures and what it means and where the plan of God is going. And there is no comparison, man's holidays versus God's holy days. But we receive that invitation and we begin to have understanding. But it begins a process where we have a lot of study, a lot of checking things out, because we all swallowed things from our religious past and we have to check it out.

And it's more difficult to unlearn than to just come to something fresh and learn it new.

Conversion, though, isn't created by knowledge alone. And conversion, when it occurs, it begins to change a person's life. Conversion is not the calling, it's the result of the calling and the acting upon that calling. 2 Peter 1 verse 12. I'll just mention there's a phrase there. 2 Peter 1 verse 12. Peter wrote and he mentioned at the end of that verse, the truth you now have, the truth you now have. Now, truth, if it's an absolute eternal truth of God, truth doesn't change. But we change as we grow our understanding or the depth of our understanding changes. The truth you now have, and hopefully in a year or five or ten or twenty years, the depth of our understanding, the truth that we then have is far greater than what we started with.

But when God calls a person, the basic truths of the Bible begin to become clear. We see the importance of God's Holy Days over man's holidays. We go to places like back in Deuteronomy where it says, don't go to the people around you and learn how to worship me from them. Keep my word, don't add to it, don't take away from it. So we observe Holy Days because God commanded them. Christ kept them. The early church continued to keep them. We have a lot in the world around us that believe that man is an immortal soul. Man is a soul. In reality, the Hebrew word, a living, breathing creature. We are souls, but we're not immortal souls. We have this non-spiritual, or excuse me, non-physical, this spiritual element called the spirit in man that combines with the human brain, talks about the things of a man are understood by the spirit of man that's in him. But then there are things of God where comprehension comes with the Holy Spirit. The Sabbath is one of the great doctrines that I think most of us come to early on with God's calling. We begin to realize, I have a problem. Here I've been just going along doing what the world says all these years, and that's not what the Bible says. And we address the Sabbath, and the Word of God is clear on that.

God's calling makes it possible for us to grow in truth and knowledge.

Truth comes from the Word of God, but so many people read it and don't understand it or don't act on it. And God wants us to be among those who read it, see it, and live it. The rest are blinded. There are so many scriptures that talk about this blindness. Let's notice John 12, verse 40.

This blindness that is upon the world. John 12, verse 40. He actually hears a quote from Isaiah again. Verse 40, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts in turn, so that I should heal them.

These things Isaiah said when he saw the glory and spoke of him.

A blindness. And of course, it says there about the God of this world, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, the God of his world who has blinded the eyes of those that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. There's a blindness. Whether that person is a religious, whether that person is Buddhist, Confucianist, Muslim, and those who profess Christianity, but do not do the things that Christ said. The calling of God, the miracle of our calling, has to do with action as well. Let's turn to Luke 9. Luke 9. Once upon a time, probably all of us were counseling for baptism. We were pointed to some of the scriptures like this one. And we'll look at another one in chapter 14. But some of these scriptures, talk is cheap. One came to Christ here at the end of chapter 9 and said, I'll follow you wherever you go. Verse 57. Luke 9.57 out happened as they journeyed on the road. Someone said to him, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. Once upon a time, we said that. Maybe we didn't verbalize that, but by our actions, by our then baptism where the minister asked us, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your Lord, master, high priest, and soon coming King?

We said, I do. And he said, I now baptize you not into any sect or denomination of this world, but into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of all your sins. And you were baptized. We had said, I'll follow you wherever you go. Now, the thing is, we don't know when we do that is we don't know whether calling you guys is going to take us. We don't know where it's going to take us. I remember once upon a time quitting speech class at Ambassador College, and I had one of the old time evangelists caught me and told me he was going to ring my neck if I didn't get back in speech class.

And I assured him the last thing in his life I would ever do is be a minister. And he laughed.

He didn't ring my neck. He laughed. He says, I believe you're right.

I think being a minister is the last thing you're going to do.

So phone rings sometimes, and I'm told of a new duty I'm going to get. And my first reaction is, oh, you got the wrong boot, not me. But then I remember I made a commitment. You made a commitment. We don't know where that calling will take us. And Jesus then said, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests. They have their den. They have their place of comfort of protection. But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. You might travel. Look at how many followed Christ, and they travel an awful lot. And how many times did they not have somewhere to lay down their head, except on a rock, maybe? He said to another one, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. Another said, Lord, I'll follow you, but let me first go and bid them farewell. I see these people, they're making excuses.

You know, it's not just, I'm going to say, bye, Mom, bye, my father, uncle, brother, sister, I'm out of here. I'll be with Jesus.

He was trying to make an excuse. Jesus said to him, no man, no one having put his hand in the plow, looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Chapter 14. Chapter 14.

And when we responded to that calling, we began a journey, and a journey is made up of a whole lot of steps. Put one foot in front of the other. Luke 14 verse 16, then he said to him, a certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servants at supper time to say to those who were invited, come, for all things are now ready. But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, I bought a piece of ground, I must see it.

Again, excuses. I asked him, he excused. And another, I have bought five yoke of oxen. I'm going to test them. I ask you to have me excused. He said, no, I can't follow you. I'm going to be a farmer. Still another said, I married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

So that servant came, and reported all these things to the master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to the servant, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind. I think he's talking about us again. And the servant said, master, it is done, as you commanded, and there's still room.

Then the master said to the servant, go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper, which tells us ultimately of the danger. We can try to put that calling on the back burner. We can try to ignore it. We can make all kinds of excuses. But the bottom line is that we need to follow wherever God tells us where to go. He continues, and in a comparison sense, in verse 26 tells him, if you love your family and even your own life more than me, you can't be my disciple. Verse 27, whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. He gives them examples of building a tower or of a king going to war. He better count the cost. Verse 33, so likewise whoever you do not forsake, all that he has cannot be my disciple. So when we opened that invitation, called a calling, and we began responding to it, and that led to a point where we gave our life to God, that it is his to doeth as he pleases.

Everything about life changed. Nothing's over the same again. Everything we do we see through the lenses of the miraculous calling that we've been given. We go where Christ leads. We engage the battle of our life because, you see, there's this guy inside of us, this carnal nature, and we've got to struggle that dude every day of our life. And he doesn't give up. It's a battle of our life. We have various places that talk about the calling of God. Let me just rattle a few off here, and I'll wrap this up. Romans 11, 29, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

Romans 11, 29, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. 1 Corinthians 7, verse 20, But each one remained in the same calling in which he was called.

Ephesians 1, verse 18, Ephesians 1, 18, The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of this calling. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? Ephesians 4, verse 1, there's one body and one spirit. Excuse me, I skipped down a little. Verse 1, As I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. How many times do we have to be reminded of that? We made a covenant with God. We gave our life to God. The calling of God takes us where we sometimes never dream. Verse 4, there's one body and one spirit. Just as you were called in one hope of your calling, the very name church testifies to the miracle of our calling.

The first time we find the word church is in Matthew 16, 18, there at Caesarea Philippi.

And Christ said, I will build my church. And then he said later, the gates of the grave will not prevail against it. Church comes from the Greek word ekklesia. Ek meaning out from and close the called, the invited ones. The church of God is the called out ones of God, making us the chosen generation that Peter spoke about. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 3 and we'll wrap this up. But we cannot call a single person. We are to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world.

And God is the one who calls whosoever he wills. We sow the seed. We preach and announce the return of Christ, the gospel of the kingdom, those who respond we teach and we baptize and we nurture.

But the calling is God's. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 5. Verse 5, who then is Paul? Who is Apollos?

But ministers through whom you believed as the Lord gave to each one. We should always remember it is the Lord. It is God who gives. I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. 2 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters. We're just the water boys for God, the planters of God. But God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. And then he speaks of being a master builder. I have laid the foundation, another builds on it, but each take heed how he builds on it. No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So we respond. We don't call, we sow, we water, we respond. God calls. And as with a man named Saul once upon a time, the calling of God changes every aspect of life, probably more than we can imagine.

We can try to run from it, but it will haunt us to the ends of the earth.

And let our attitude be that of... The other day I was thinking back to and I looked up the response that Mary had whenever the angel said, you're a child, it's of the Holy Spirit, here's who you'll bear. And then she said, behold, the maidservant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.