The Miraculous Privilege of Our Calling

Thank you, Mr. Hand. Good afternoon, everyone. Whenever they say an elder in the Columbus congregation, I start to look around and say, I wonder who that is. Now it's getting to be more for the Columbus part than the elder part. We've been able to travel and be different places, and I've really enjoyed that. I feel like I'm an itinerant preacher. But I can answer that. Well, I think a lot of you have seen via Sue's Facebook page, we're actually in contract twice now, one for buying a house and another for selling our house. So we'd appreciate your continued prayers that everything will go well. I'm looking ahead on Tuesday, we're having a home inspection. You know, inspectors coming to our house to find out what's wrong with it, which is good. I think maybe we should have done that several years ago. Then I could have fixed it then while we were still living in it. But I think everything will go well, should be. And we're making plans. I'm going to be going down and speaking in Portsmouth and Prestonsburg after we get past Camp Catubik. That'll be taking up the next couple sabbaths. And of course, we'll appreciate your prayers for that. The staff will be gathering in Dayton next Sabbath, and then we'll go up to the camp and have a full week. And this will be our first time using that facility. So that's why we especially ask for your prayers, that everything will come together and work the way we're planning.

Well, I was thinking it's a privilege for me to be here. I've been in a lot of other places, and I try to never take it for granted. And as we gather for services, I think I've become conscious of what a special people we are. We're here together as a church, and especially in the Holy Day season, we make a special effort to be together. We don't want to miss when those days are coming.

And, you know, everybody tries to be there, but still we're a relatively small group. And I'm not telling you something you don't know. If you think around us in the metropolitan Columbus area, there's a million or so people, and the vast majority of them aren't conscious that today's a Sabbath. They don't know that among them there's a small group that are meeting here for a special purpose, engaging in, you know, Sabbath services, doing something they just don't understand.

And so, of course, we might ask the question, why? Why is that? And I want to address that some today, but also to get to even a more basic question of what? What is it that has us here, and what is it that has us living a lifestyle that's considered unusual and odd by many people? Well, the simple answer to that is it's a miracle. You're here because you were called by the ruler of the universe. Now, that's something special. Now, for those of you who like titles, I try not to get too far into it. I like to call this sermon the miraculous privilege of our calling, because that's what it is. It's not only a privilege, but it's a miracle. Now, let's start off going to some Scriptures to establish that. If you will, let's turn to Matthew 9, and I'm going to begin in verse 11.

Matthew 9. I'm going to read 11 through 13, although we can make reference to verse 10, because Jesus Christ was having one of His many run-ins with the Pharisees, and they were being critical because He was having a meal with some tax collectors and those that were considered sinners.

So when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus heard it. He didn't let the disciples answer. He answered for Himself, and He said, And those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. And there's the ellipses. He means those who are sick do need the physician. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now keep that in the back of your mind. Jesus Christ said one of the reasons He came was to call sinners to repentance. Now let's go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 1. I want to look at several scriptures in this chapter, but we're going to start off near the beginning. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 2.

This is part of Paul's greeting to the Church of Corinth. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 2. He says, So he's pointing out, you're not only sanctified, that set aside for a special purpose, but you're called. You are called to be saints. And he's saying that to them, but he makes a point that it's with those in every place who call in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he's including us. We are all called as they were. If you'll drop down to verse 9.

So I'm trying to underline it making it absolutely clear. Our calling, or Christianity, is a calling. It's a special thing. We're called to it.

Now remember, Jesus in that earlier scripture said he was not calling the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now how selective is it if he's coming to call sinners? Anyone here who hasn't sinned? We all know Romans 3, 23 says everyone is sinned. So some might come to the conclusion, well, everyone is being called by Jesus Christ. And then I say, well, Dunkle, you're off your rocker here because it's not so special. Everyone is sinned. But I want to show it. It's not quite like that. Here we're in 1 Corinthians. Look at verse 26.

This is one of my favorites, especially because of the song based on it. Paul continues early on in his letter to the Corinthian church, For you see your calling, brethren, not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. So there's a selection process. There's a lot of people that aren't called. But we are. You see your calling. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put the shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put the shame the things that are mighty.

When you think about it, there's about 6 billion people on the planet. Even of those who would call themselves Christian, whether it's the way we understand Christianity or not, there's only about 100, one and a half billion of those. So the large majority of people on the planet don't claim to be Christian. So they wouldn't be called. There's a selection. But we're different.

We are called.

Now then, you might say, well, what exactly is that? Have you ever said a word where you keep repeating it over and over again and starts just losing its meaning and even starts to sound funny? You say, calling, calling. After a while, it's like, boy, that's a funny sounding word. I never noticed it before.

Well, the Greek word that's used here in 1 Corinthians 1 and 26 is kleetos. If we transcribe it into English, it might be kleetos. And it comes from a root word, kleio, which I love the sound of, kleio. It sounds like maybe calypso with Caribbean music and such. But it doesn't have anything to do with Caribbean music. Kleio means to invite.

And so our kleitos is an invitation. When you see your calling, bread, and your invitation, you are invited.

Now, if not many wise men were called, then there's some type of selection process that goes on.

I'm trying to address this very carefully. There's a selection. Some called, some not.

Let's look at a demonstration of this. If we'll go to the book of Mark, chapter 1. Mark 1 will begin in verse 14. This is early in Christ's ministry. And we're going to begin to see a demonstration of this selection, how some are called and some are not.

So, begin in verse 14. Now, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying the time was fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Now, this is going to be the basis of our kingdom of God lectures, which we've piloted here. But I want to continue. He says, now, as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, Now, imagine this. He's beginning in his ministry, and I always envision this as it's early in the morning. You know, fishermen start when it's still very dark. At least from what I understand about fishing, I don't have a lot of experience in it. But imagine he's by the seashore. Imagine it being a spring day. You can hear some of the birds. Maybe the gulls are coming and trying to get stuff that's washed up. And you see some of the fishermen are ending their nights labor. It's like the sun's coming up, but they've been working for hours. So he comes across in verse 16. He walks by the sea, and he sees Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. So maybe they're near the end, but they're going to cast it in one more time. But Jesus speaks to them. He says, follow me. I'll make you to become fishers of men.

So he's extending an invitation. Come follow me. And immediately they left their nets, and they followed him.

And when he had gone a little further, so they continued down the seashore, and there he sees James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, and they were in the boat mending their nets. So they were finished for the day, and they're working on mending their nets. And immediately he called them. He kaleoed them. He invited them. Just as he did Peter and Andrew. Come follow me to be fishers of men. And they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and they went after him. And I wonder, did they continue along the way?

Now, I've often thought that, you know, perhaps, my old way of looking at this, I thought Zebedee probably saw that, and he thought, what's with those crazy kids? They're going off after that carpenter, and did he think they were nuts? But then I started thinking about what a privilege it is to be called. And I wonder, did he think, well, boy, I didn't get to be called. He called them, but not me. You know, there's one person, Zebedee was not called. We know there were at least two servants, because it uses the plural. Maybe there were several others that were not called. And I wonder, if Christ were to continue walking down that seashore, perhaps there were dozens of other fishermen. Maybe even hundreds, if he went far enough.

I just realized, I didn't look at my notes, I left out one of the funniest lines. Well, what I thought would be a funny line, because I was going to say, if not many wise men are called, you might say, but plenty of fishermen are called. I said it up so you'd know to laugh. I figured Mr. Brant might appreciate that. You know, maybe razors of fish would be called even more. But there were a lot of fishermen that weren't called that day. Some were, some weren't. Now, let's make it clear that some are called and some aren't. One of our earliest memory scriptures, John 6, verse 44, at least it was one of my earliest ones. As we are called and we start wondering why is it that I'm understanding this and it seems like other people aren't, we're told to read this scripture and we see it. And we start understanding why some are called and some aren't, or at least how it's beginning to work. John 6, verse 44, Christ teaching the masses, He said, No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up the last day. That's the memory scripture, but interestingly, if you look across the page at verse 65, it says almost the same thing and I want to look at that one. In verse 65, He says, Therefore I said to you, no one can come to Me unless it's been granted Him by the Father. That explains why we're here, this very small number, and a million or so people around us in the city aren't here. But I want to point out something else about this. It's noteworthy that there's another side of the coin. Not everyone who is called or invited accepts that invitation, or follows through if they do initially accept. Look in the following verse. In verse 66, it says, From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Some people, they'd been going and then they went back. They didn't follow Him anymore. The things that He was teaching seemed a little too tough. I thought, an invitation, our calling is an invitation, but it's not a subpoena. It's not a warrant. God doesn't drag us. Now, you might think sometimes if your calling was such that you thought, I tried to get away, but God just wouldn't let me. But there are opportunities where people decline that invitation, or they begin to accept it, and they turn away. Rather than turn to a scripture, I'll just mention my own personal example. A lot of you would have a story like this, but I think, in my family, my grandmother was the first who was called. I wanted to say a little bit more about that tomorrow, but she was called. My mother and my sister and I began to attend. But then, over some time, my sister became distracted. My sister Tina. She had friends in school. She got involved in the marching band and started dating a fellow. Church started to not mean so much to her. I was going to say a clear memory. I remember some part of this discussion very well. In some parts, I don't remember so well. But there was a time when, I believe, Tina was 17, which would have made me 15.

Her and my mom got into a heated discussion, verging on a hot argument. It was a Sabbath. We're getting ready. I'm not certain, but I think they were arguing about what my sister was going to wear. Probably something that was a little too short or revealing. I don't remember. But the discussion led to my mom saying to her, Well, why are you going to church for in the first place? She answered, I'm only going because you make me go.

That caused a pause. Mom thought, well, I don't want you to be going for that reason. And from then on, she said, fine. I'm not going to make you go. Now, I want you to go. I want you to accept that calling. And I do want to make it clear. The Bible does teach that our children are called. In Acts 2, 38, and 39, when Peter was giving his famous sermon on Pentecost, he said, the promise is to you and to your children.

And also, we know, I don't have the scripture written down, in 1 Corinthians, where the Apostle Paul was explaining why a believing mate should not believe an unbelieving mate if they're willing to dwell with them. He says, you can save your mate. Else your children would be unclean, but your children are holy. Our children are called. God likes to work with families. But it's possible for the young people to decline that invitation.

We don't want them to. But my sister, she went off a different direction. Now, a lot of you could probably tell a similar story. Probably, it's in your mind already. You're thinking of someone you know that went off. Now, I think, why was it different for me? I accepted the invitation. Not because I'm better.

I mean, I love my sister. She's a terrific person. She's smart. She's funny. She's good looking. She has a wonderful life with kids. But I'm better off in a lot of ways. Accepting God's invitation brings certain privileges. And there are also consequences for if you don't accept it. Things can go bad. Let's turn to Matthew 22. Matthew 22 will begin in verse 1. Jesus Christ gave a parable explaining this very point.

Matthew 22, beginning in verse 1. This one popped into mind as I was working on this. But, of course, because he's using the very terminology of the invitation for the calling. Matthew 22 in verse 1. Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables. And he said, The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son. He sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding. But they weren't willing to come.

Remember, he sent out an invitation, not a subpoena. But God is patient. When he gives an invitation, if you hear it and you don't answer immediately, it's totally off the table. He'll give people a chance to listen. So in verse 4 again, he sent out other servants, saying, Tell those who were invited, See, I've prepared my oxen, my fatted cattle are killed, all things are ready, come to the wedding. God wants us to accept that invitation. But these people didn't. They made light of it.

They went their ways, one to his own farm and other to his business. But the rest seized his servants and treated them spitefully and killed them. And I said, there's consequences. When the king heard about that, he was furious. He sent out his armies and he destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.

But the king's not finished. He still wants to have guests at his wedding. He says to his servants, Well, the wedding's ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, go to the highways. As many as you find, invite to the wedding. So those servants went out into the highways and they gathered together, all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. Now, I want to make a distinction between what happens next and what happened before.

Because if the king comes in to see the guests, he saw a man there who didn't have on a wedding garment. And I always think the term of his friend, How did you come in here without a wedding garment? Sir, I think of the way Bill Cosby might say something. What are you doing here without a wedding garment? And the guy's speechless. He says, Bind him hand and foot. Cast him into outer darkness, where there's going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So when you do accept the invitation fully, it's not something to do half-heartedly.

You better accept it and you better take it on its terms and do it well. But it's interesting. Those who initially made light of the invitation, God sent out his arm...or the king... Obviously, there's a parallel with God... But sent out his armies and destroyed them and burned their city. But it doesn't say that they were cast out into outer darkness.

The people that spurned the invitation initially weren't cast into outer darkness, which might be a parallel to not being cast into the lake of fire. That's a good feeling I have for the sister I was talking about. She might be like those who spur in the invitation and suffer, but she's not one that came in without a wedding garment. Now, let's look...because our calling is a privilege, can we learn something?

Here's one parallel... I don't know why I can't say the word parable today. Here's one parable... Here's a story that Jesus told. Let's look at another example. We know from Corinthians that the example of ancient Israel, there are many stories there that are examples for us to learn from. And especially as we go into Pentecost, it's easy, as Mr. Orleman made the tie back to the Passover season, let's think back to the Passover season and to Israel's calling as a nation, and what we can learn from that.

We know that they were there in bondage in Israel, in Egypt, and God called them out. He sent Moses, worked the great plagues, brought them out to Mount Sinai, and of course he comes down on Mount Sinai, and the mountain's on smoke and fire, and he speaks the Ten Commandments. They are shaking, and they start shaking in their shoes, and they say, Moses, please, you go talk to God. Come back and tell us what he had to say. Don't let him talk to us anymore. So Moses, I got you covered. I'll go do that. I'm sure it probably wasn't exactly like that, but God called Moses up.

Now, we tend to think, okay, this is when he goes up, and he's up there for 40 days and 40 nights, and he gets the instruction of how to build a tabernacle and all the sacrifices. Well, that will happen, but before that, he goes up for a brief time, and God gives him a series of statutes and judgments, and he comes back down, and he lays it out to the people and says, look, God wants you to be his nation, a special people. And they say, that sounds great. You know, go back and tell God that all that he says will do.

And so Moses says, terrific, let's seal the covenant. They actually have a sacrifice. And things are written down. He sprinkles blood on the book, sprinkles blood on the people, which I think might not have been all that pleasant, but it's a way of sealing the covenant. They made an agreement. God invited them as a nation to be his special people, and they would get special blessings. They accepted the invitation at first, but we know that later on, like someone who perhaps, well, the parable starts breaking down with the parable, but people get the invitation, and they would later spurn it.

That's going to be described in the Old Testament in a very vivid analogy. I'd like to turn to the book of Ezekiel in chapter 16.

Ezekiel 16. We don't always read this for the Pentecost season, but I want to look at some things to tie the Pentecost season in with the whole Holy Day structure.

We want to look at this invitation to join God in a special relationship. We have that privilege. We're called and invited. What can we learn from the way Israel at first accepted an invitation and then didn't treat it so well? Now, in this case, this is somewhat of a parable here in Ezekiel 16. We'll begin in the first verse, where he addresses Jerusalem. Again, the word of the Eternal came to me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. And say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem, Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite. Sounds like something you might hear on the playground, right? Your father was a Canaanite, your mother was a Hittite. And your nativity in the day of your born, your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you. You weren't rubbed with salt or wrapped in swaddling clothes. Your birth was nothing. Your parents were nothing. No, I pitied you to do these things for you, to have compassion on you, but you were thrown out into the open field when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born. If you can think of a modern parallel, every now and then you'll hear a news story about how someone gives birth to a baby and they throw him in a dumpster out in an alley. That's what this was like, and God likens that to the state of what would become the nation of Israel. So He's saying, you weren't so special, but you would have a special opportunity, a special privilege. Now, God likens Himself to, say, a young man who comes by and finds this baby.

In verse 6, when I passed by and I saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, live. Yes, I said to you in your blood, live. And I made you thrive like a plant in the field. So God took pity. And I said, it wasn't, I'm calling you because you're so great. I wish you would come and be my partner. But God turned to Israel and said, you're not worthy of this, but I'm going to make you something special.

And verse 7, continuing, I made you thrive like a plant in the field. You grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare. Now, this is like a young woman not being naked her whole life, but not wearing the clothes of maturity. At least, that's the way I'm going to interpret it here. When I passed by you again, I looked on you. Indeed, your time was a time of love, time of maturity, ready to engage in a lifelong relationship. So I spread my wing over you and covered your nakedness.

Yes, I swore an oath and entered a covenant with you, and you became mine, says the Lord God. So God, of course, as I mentioned earlier, he entered a relationship with Israel where there was a covenant. He likened that to marriage.

And I think it's appropriate. Think of this. When a man invites a young woman to marry him, he invites her to join her life with his. And he's hoping at the time that he'll accept. Now, I still remember it. It seems not that long ago when that happened with Sue and I, and I actually pulled off a surprise on that one. But I don't want to lose track on that. But, you know, that special invitation, join me, join your life with mine. When God calls each of us, he gives us that invitation. Join your life with mine.

Now, if you accept and you follow through, there can be great blessings. Let's look in verse 10. I clothed you in embroidered cloth, gave you sandals of badger skin, clothed you with fine linen, and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck, and I put a jewel in your nose. That must have been a period thing.

And a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful and succeeded to royalty.

Wouldn't all of you husbands like to treat your wife this way? Give her the finest of everything. I'm not sure about the jewel in the nose, but...

But still, you'd like to be able to give her jewels, give her the best clothes, the best food.

But, as I said, Israel would turn away in verse 15. But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone who would...passing by who would have it. And you took some of your garments and adorned multi-colored high places for yourself and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. Such things shouldn't happen. Now, in this analogy, worshipping false gods, idolatry, god-like into adultery, which is convenient because they sound so much alike, but it can be inconvenient if you're trying to say them up here. But, you know, it's breaking that covenant, coming that close, and then going away from it and just totally violating that trust. If we skip to verse 23, we'll see, once again, as I was making the point there, consequences for breaking that covenant or not accepting the invitation properly. In verse 23, I thought, boy, what a Scripture! I've never had that on my memory Scripture list. But when God says, woe to you, I think you're in trouble. That's not a good thing. Down in verse 35, this is a fascinating chapter, but there's a lot of detail, and I want to move on to other things, but I want to get the gist of what happens. Once again, this example for us to learn from ancient Israel.

Because of the blood of your children, which you gave to them, There's more description of the punishment, but let's look to verse 59.

It's interesting that God has a higher purpose in mind for everyone. In verse 59 of this chapter, Turning to the nation of Israel, God is saying, okay, you broke that covenant, but I'm going to remember the special relationship we had. I'm going to establish an everlasting covenant. There will be a different covenant that you're going to have an opportunity for.

Now, I wonder if ancient Israelites who are reading this might have been wondering, what in the world is he talking about? But with God's Spirit opening our mind, we can see much more. If you turn to the book of Romans, Paul explains it. Romans chapter 10 will begin in verse 1.

Okay. Romans typically comes before Corinthians.

Paul is going to explain that that was a special covenant with a nation of Israel. We understand they were called. They had an opportunity to accept that invitation, but it was an invitation as part of a group. And they had an opportunity to give physical obedience and receive physical blessings. They broke that covenant, but God is going to open a way for something else. And offered on a different level. Romans 10 in verse 1. Paul is writing, he says, Paul is saying that I'm praying that they may be saved. There must be possibility that they can. Let's look down in verse 11.

For the same Lord is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Here is the opportunity for an individual calling. Not a calling as part of a nation, but God is saying, Okay, Israel as a nation had this opportunity, broke the covenant, and had to be punished. But that doesn't mean every individual Israelite has lost any opportunity to join in this new calling, the new opportunity.

Look in Romans 11 verse 7.

He says, What then? And by the way, the whole chapter brings us more, brings us out fully. But I want to, as I said, move in to talk about the privilege of our calling and not dwell too much on Israel. He says, What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks. Israel doesn't obtain the blessings of the old covenant that was demolished, but the elect have obtained it. The rest were blinded. Who are these elect? The elect is from the Greek eclogae, which means chosen or selected. Israel was chosen, often called the chosen people, chosen and invited to a special relationship with God, but then broke that covenant. And now God began choosing individuals to have that invitation, that calling, to have a special relationship with Him. Now, the parable in Matthew 22 explained that, how there would be a calling and someone would have an opportunity to partake in it or not. But what's interesting is...well, actually, I just thought of a point, but I'm going to make that a little later. Let's look in chapter, or verse 28. We're still in Romans 11.

Speaking of those who were physically descended from Israel, concerning the gospel, they're enemies for your sake. And here, Paul was speaking at that particular time, those who knew they were descendants of Israel were kind of hostile to those called to the church because they didn't understand. But they were enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For you who are once disobedient to God have now obtained mercy through their disobedience. Because the old opportunity, that physical covenant, is put away. Now there's an opportunity for an individual calling, an individual relationship with God. Even so, those also have now been disobedient that through the mercy shown you, they also may obtain mercy. Now, you might wonder, then, still going back and forth. Israel had a special opportunity, they blew it, but they have an opportunity again. Frank, how does this make sense? Can you be called? Besides, all those Israelites who lived for centuries, millennia, they broke that covenant and they were gone before the opportunity came.

Well, in that sense, they're in the boat with a lot of people throughout history. And that's where the Holy Days schedule begins to help us put things in perspective, to see the big picture. The annual schedule of Holy Days shows us there's a meaning and symbolism whereby God is going to call or invite everyone to have a relationship with Him. Each one on a schedule, not all at the same time. Now think through the Holy Days calendar.

We begin in the spring with the Passover. Not one of the Holy Days, but a festival. Passover reminds us that Jesus Christ had to come and pay the penalty for our sins, because if not, there'd be no sense in God ever calling anybody. So we have to start there. The penalty for sin must be paid. Then we go to the days of Unleavened Bread, illustrating the need to change, to put sin out of our lives. God doesn't invite us to come to Him just the way we are. It's just like the fellow who came to the wedding without the wedding garment.

And God said, what are you doing here this way? God calls us. He gives us the invitation. But the days of Unleavened Bread remind us we have to change. We have to put sin out of our lives to come approach Him. And then Pentecost, which of course we'll be celebrating tomorrow, marks the giving of God's Holy Spirit. That's what makes it possible for us to change and develop that character. And we also note that we're part of a group, a new group, not a nation of Israel.

And this is what I started to say earlier, and I didn't want to get ahead of myself. But individuals before felt that they were part of a calling because they had been born into a group. Now it's the other way around. Because you're called as an individual, you become part of a group. But it's your individual calling that gives you the opportunity to be in that group. Okay, so that's a calling we have.

We have that privilege. What about everyone else? That's where the fall Holy Days come in. We start focusing on that wider calling that's going to go to everyone. When the time comes. Interesting to me, the early phase began with Christ coming, with Passover. The latter phase, when the calling begins opening up to a wider group, begins with Christ coming again, only this is his second coming, symbolized by the Feast of Trumpets.

He comes this time in power and glory to put down governments and establish one kingdom that will rule the world. And of course, we follow up quickly with the Day of Atonement, where Satan has to be put away so that the obstacles will be removed and we can be reconciled to God.

And then the Feast of Tabernacles. That millennial rule lasting a thousand years, the seven days represents the thousand years when everyone who's alive will be called. If you're alive, you're going to be called.

Not just a few here and there, the way it is now, but everyone's going to have the opportunity. Now you might say, well, yeah, what's so special about us then? Well, those who are called now before that millennium comes are going to be with Christ living and ruling during that time. And then the calling widens even more. We reach what we call the last great day. Pictures the general resurrection. Everyone who's ever lived is going to live again.

And then they're going to have that opportunity to have the invitation extended to them. Let's read about it in Revelation chapter 20. Revelation 20, we'll begin in verse 11.

Revelation 20, verse 11. I saw a great white throne, him who sat on it and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away. And I was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great standing before God. Remember now, not many wise men are called, but at this time, many wise men will be called. Every wise man, and every not so wise man, and every foolish man, but every man and woman, every person is going to be called. And it says, the books will be opened. This is part of how we know. The books will be opened, which we interpret to mean the books of the Bible will be opened to everyone's understanding. And they'll be judged, or the dead will be judged according to their works by the things that are written in the books. So this isn't going to happen just that one moment, judged by what they've done before, but what they're going to do from then. We understand that there's going to be some period of time when they're going to be invited to accept God's way of life. They're going to have the calling that we have now. That's a wonderful thing.

But what about us? Let's look to earlier in the chapter. You might wonder why I'm doing this this way, but I want to do the contrast. In verse 4, we're going to see why our calling is such a privilege that we're called now. Because those who are around us in Columbus that don't know it's the Sabbath, don't know anything about God's way, they're represented there in verse 11 and 12. The dead, small, and great, they'll all have their calling. We're represented here in verse 4, 5, and 6. I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshipped a beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. That thousand years I mentioned earlier that is represented by the Feast of Tabernacles, the people that have to wait to be resurrected afterwards don't have part of that. Which is what verse 5 says, The rest of the dead didn't live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. For over such the second death will have no power. There'll be priests of God and Christ, and will reign with him a thousand years. That's part of what makes our calling so special, such a privilege that we get to participate in. Now, everyone else is going to have a chance, but the timing is pretty special. Now, we know... well, everyone's going to have that part. Let's turn to the book of 2 Peter. We're near there, just towards the front a little bit. 2 Peter 3 and verse 9.

I want to establish the fact that we have a special privilege now, but it's when the general resurrection comes, it's not to just a limited few the way our calling is now. 2 Peter 3 verse 9.

We don't want any to perish. God doesn't want any to perish. He wants all to come to repentance. Now, keep in mind that it's the Apostle Peter who's writing this. He's the one that God used to go to Cornelius, one of the Gentiles, and God sent the Holy Spirit. And even when they had the general conference, Peter testified of this, and they said, OK, the way is open to Gentiles. The point I'm making here is that it's not just those descended from Israel when the time comes. Peter realized that God's going to give this opportunity to everyone. It's going to be a general calling. God is a God of love. He doesn't want to condemn people. But those who get the calling now, we do have a special opportunity, a special privilege. Remember what we solved there in Revelation 20 verse 6. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Hebrews 11.35 calls it a better resurrection. It's a privilege for us to be called now, to enjoy these special benefits. It's appropriate for us to look at some of those privileges, understand what a special thing we have. And of course, remember it. It's not a right. We didn't earn it. We can't qualify for it. We can't deserve it. We can't cause ourselves to be called. And we could say, disappointingly, we can't get someone else to be called. I think if you want to refer to this, John chapter 15 and verse 16, Jesus is talking to his apostles the last night. He's with them before his crucifixion. And he says, you didn't choose me. I chose you. He made it very clear to them. And I wonder if four of them in particular looked back and said, Yeah, I remember that day, that morning on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus came walking up and said, Hey, come with me. I'm going to make you fishers of men. And no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him. How many of us have learned that lesson the hard way? When you think, once you were called, you thought, well, this is great. I've got to share this. You went to your brother or sister or neighbor. I went through it a couple of times when I was younger, when I got caught up. It's funny, it sounds like I tripped and fell. But somehow I ended up dating a girl that wasn't in the church. This happened to me a couple of different times. I prayed, God, please call her. She's great in every way, but you've got to call her. I couldn't seem to talk him into it. It reminded me of a story when I was at Ambassador College. I can't remember the fellow's name. It was a fellow I think was around in California. He was telling us he went through that when he was younger, because he'd see these pretty girls he wanted to date. But he knew if he got involved dating them and they weren't in the church, it could probably lead to sorrow and heartache. But he said before he learned that lesson, he'd see a pretty girl and he'd say, Somebody give that girl a plain truth magazine. I'm going to get her called. She'll come to the church. Well, we know it doesn't work that way. We're a few in number, and we didn't get to choose to be called. And we don't get to choose who to share it with. But it's good that it's a blessing we want to share. We appreciate how good it is. Let's turn to the book of Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. I'm going to begin in verse 16.

Ephesians 16. We'll go through verse 19. Paul, writing to the Ephesians, he says, Now, it sounds like a lot of mumbo-jumbo religious sounding words, but I think, okay, he grants us wisdom. That's not a small word. He grants us wisdom. He grants us wisdom. He grants us wisdom. He grants us wisdom. He grants us wisdom. He grants us wisdom. He grants us wisdom. That's not a small thing. By the power of God's Spirit, when he calls us, he says, you can have wisdom. You can have understanding. You can have that hope. Remember the booklet called, Why Were You Born? You know the answer to that question. How many people out there don't? It's a peace of mind that comes from knowing what it's all about. I think of that especially, as a matter of fact, this past week, I had occasion to talk to some of the people that I used to work with at the Humanities Council. While I was in that job, I communicated regularly, regularly, with professors, with highly educated people, a lot of them well paid. These guys, they really understand a lot of things, but they don't know what we know. Some of them, I found, had a really warped view of life. They had trouble being happy. I think partly because they reached a point where they thought they understood so much, and then they said, well, is this all there is? They started seeing a certain, what they saw as a futility in human existence. They were sort of like, if you read the first part of Ecclesiastes, but don't go to the end, where they're saying, I've done all this stuff, I understand all these things, but it just seems so pointless. Because they don't understand why they were born. But our calling, this privilege we have, gives us that peace of mind. We have that understanding of what life is all about. And not a small part of that is understanding that all those people that aren't called yet aren't lost. People like my sister, and whoever it was you were thinking of when I was telling you the story about my sister, I'm not worried that she's going to burn in hell and suffer forever. No! I know God's plan. I know that He's going to give her that opportunity. She'll get the invitation and not be weeping and gnashing her teeth. What a special blessing, a privilege it is. Like I said, we're not smarter, not better, just more blessed. And we can expect other blessings along with that peace of mind. Let's turn to the book of Psalms 103. Psalm 103. I could have said, take the hymnal and we'll turn to it. I can't remember which page that's on, but I always like the singing version of it.

It says, Bless the Eternal, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Eternal, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. It's like fringe benefits with a job. What are these benefits? Well, it says, He forgives all your iniquities, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from destruction, crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies.

Some of that's pretty good. Having all your diseases healed. The only bad part is, He doesn't say how soon He'll heal you, but He does heal. It's good to remember that. I'm hoping that God will start working some more dramatic healings, but I think back when I was still living in Texas before I came back here, God worked a dramatic healing in my life.

I think, what a privilege that comes with that. But it also says, He forgives your iniquities, redeems your life from destruction. Think, where are we going if we don't have our sins forgiven? The wages of sin is death. Eternal death. What a privilege to be called because God says, I'm going to forgive that sin. I'm going to give you eternal life. Boy, you want to talk about a fringe benefit.

Have you ever been interviewing for a job and they say, I'm going to give you two weeks paid vacation, holidays, and eternal life. I'd probably sign up for that one. Another benefit of our calling is that we do get to share it. Now, interesting, I made a point. We don't get to choose who to share it with, but if you look around you, we're a small group, but we're significant.

We are a significant body. We're called and invited into a special group. Being part of the church is partially a demonstration of how special that calling is. Now, if you want to make note of this, Matthew 16, verse 18, the first place in the Bible where the word church appears. It's where Jesus was talking to Peter and he said, okay, you're Petros, but on this Petra, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

I didn't turn there because I thought we've looked at that a lot lately and we know that. The Greek word that's used for church is ecclesia, or some pronounce it ecclesia. Now, we've probably heard that before. It's the base word for ecclesiastical, but it's a combination. The prefix at the beginning of that is e-k-e-k, and then clisis. Clisis is another one of those words derived from kaleo, which means to invite. Clisis means the invitation. We were invited out of the world.

I think I might have strung those sentences together so much that I didn't make that point well, but being part of the church is because we were invited. We were called out of the world. Now, God could have called us all individually and we're out of the world, but we're all separated here and there and whatever, but he doesn't work that way. He calls us as a body. We're the ecclesia, the called-out ones, all together.

We're called out to be a special group. What are we a part of? Let's turn to the book of Colossians, chapter 1, verse 18. Let's look at a couple of things of what we're a part of. I know that fellow back there. Colossians 1, 18. Paul here, he's talking about Jesus Christ. He says, He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning of the firstborn from the dead, and all things he might have their preeminence. But there he says, He is the head of the body, the church. The church is the body. Look across the page at verse 24.

He says, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the church. Now, when I was younger, I used to think that sounded like he was talking about putting together a Frankenstein monster.

All of us fit together in these different parts, and then Christ is the head on top of it. And nobody's chuckling, so you might not have got the weird image that I did. But it's not meant to be something like that. When it says body, it means that special group that we're a part of. And who's the head? Not head like in Frankenstein monster head, but who's the leader? Who's the one in charge of that special group?

It's Jesus Christ. So we're called to be part of a special group. And it's not just any group. It's one that has Jesus Christ in charge of it. I liken that to just about all of us at one time or another have been on a playground where you're going to play some type of sport, and you get two team captains, and they're choosing sides. Somebody's been in that, right? Maybe not. You're all looking at me blank. I dread that because I wasn't the most athletic kid in school when I was younger, so a lot of times I was like, oh, I don't want to be last. Please don't let me be last.

A lot of times I was last or near last. I've gotten over that. But what's interesting, though, is you'd be looking. Who are the captains? You usually choose two of the either most popular guys or the best athletes. And if you're like me, you're probably thinking, I like that guy. I want to be on his team. I hope he picks me. Right? Well, we were picked by the guy who we'd want to have choose us. Jesus Christ, the high priest, the savior of the world, is the one who picked you to be part of his team. That's a pretty special thing. Now, once I've been almost six months or so ago, at the church, had a general conference in January, and a famous sermon talked about us being the B team.

We're who are left. And I thought, that sounds pretty cool. I didn't mind that. But it's interesting. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go down to Cincinnati.

We had a couple days of pastoral training. And they brought in some of the experts, and they're trying to cram our heads full of everything we need to know to become pastors. And they tell us, by the way, you'll never remember all this, so we're giving it to you in writing.

But at one point, Mr. Kubik was talking to us, and he said, we're glad to have you here. He said, yeah, I understand that whole thing about the B team, but he says, you guys are the A team. He says, you're the A team because you're on Jesus Christ's team, and His team is never second rate. If Jesus Christ is your team captain, you're on the best team. That made me feel kind of good. You know, I didn't remember everything they were teaching us, but I remember that. Because I want to be on that team, and all of us get to be on that team.

Of course, I remember one of the things I thought was amusing, because later on in that session, Mr. Kubik was talking about how we're happy to have you guys going out to pastor churches. We're confident that it will work out, but he said, if it doesn't, we've got a backup plan. There's still always the stones. He says, Jesus Christ, stones will cry out if we're not doing the work. You can raise up stones to be children of Abraham. The stones are the B team.

We're on Jesus Christ's team. That's doing pretty good. Now, what do we do as part of that team? Let's look at 1 Timothy 3 and verse 15. 1 Timothy 3, 15. Because we're part of the special group. We're part of that team. We're part of the body, the church. And I've done this the last couple of times. I've given the sermon to keep going to 2 Peter.

1 Peter 3, verse 15. Paul's writing, not Peter, Timothy. Now I'm wondering, did I say Peter before? Okay, I said Timothy, so you're all there waiting until I'm going to get there with you. Paul's writing Timothy, he says, But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And the guy is the commas because he's giving three different ways of saying the same thing. The house of God is the church. And the church is also the pillar and the ground of the truth. You know, a pillar, he's obviously using an analogy, but a pillar is a part of the building that gives strength, that holds things up.

It's the upright support. So the church is that upright support that holds up the truth. But he says, I'm going to turn the analogy on its head and say, you're also the ground of the truth. That's like the anchor, the mooring. What holds that truth steady and doesn't let it move or slip. That's the church's role. And that's, of course, all of our role. We are the church. You know, we're part of that body. That's a pretty high responsibility.

And that's what God invited us out to do. But do you know what makes it even so much more amazing? Remember back in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26, that high responsibility, that special calling to be part of that body is to those who are not the wise. We're the not many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble. And maybe you could have said not any. I don't know anybody that qualifies as mighty or wise. It's funny, when I was younger, sitting out there in the audience, I'd hear the ministers read that. I'd say, well, yeah, but there's not many of us that are wise or mighty, but those who are must be the ministers.

Now I'm standing up here saying, what did I know? Being up here doesn't make you mighty or noble or special. I mean, we're all not many wise men. The only way we can do anything worthwhile is because God is doing it through us. He's using us instead of the wise. He's going to raise them up in the last great day, and they'll get their chance.

But right now, He's saying, I'm going to show, when they come up, they're going to say, you did all that with those guys? Think how much better we can do now, and that'll be something. Because earlier in that section, I Corinthians 1.25, I didn't turn there because we read it earlier, but remember, God's weakness is far stronger than man's strength. God's foolishness is greater than man's best wisdom. The little trivial things that God does are way above anything we can do.

That's the kind of work He's going to do in the church. That brought to mind something, and I don't know why it is stuck in my memory, but when I was living in Texas, I was visiting some friends once, and we were down out in the backyard.

We saw a little ant who was stuck boxed in in a corner, and he was just running his legs, and he'd bump here, and he'd turn, and he'd go there, and he was just trying to find his way where he was going. My friend said, yeah, it's like that little brain of his is just running a program that tells him, keep going until he finds his way out.

So we were likening the way God designed that little insect like running a computer program. Maybe God looks at it that way, but I thought, how much more impressive is God's work than man's? This tiny little bug that there's millions, a trillion of them, you can step on them, and others will come. But he put all that in there, and it's working all six of those legs, and it can walk up walls, and you can go find food and bring it back.

And it's in a little throwaway nothing. Our best and brightest minds are struggling to build robots and computers that can sort of imitate that. You know, our greatest wisdom can barely match God's foolishness.

Like I said, we're called not because we deserve it. We're not bringing some special wisdom that God's needs.

But certainly, you know, we're better off than a lot of other people. Because of God's calling, we have blessings that a lot of people wish they could have. That peace of mind that we have of knowing God's plan and purpose. We get that. Of course, we get insight through God's Holy Spirit. We're going to talk a lot more about that tomorrow.

A lot of rich and mighty, powerful people would love to have that.

And of course, we have that understanding that this isn't all there is. And that this isn't the only chance for people to be saved. You know, your loved ones who aren't here today, they're not going to go burn in hellfire. What a privilege it is for us to know that.

Now, brethren, we share in something incredibly special. We're a family because God called us here together. We're the ecclesia.

We were each individually invited by God to have this special opportunity. And He wants to give us all the blessings that come with it.

But with all those privileges, you know, comes serious responsibility.

Remember the saying, to whom much is given, much is required.

Okay, you think now He's going to lower the boom.

Actually, I've got time. I could go and launch into a whole new sermon on some of those requirements, but I'm not going to.

But there is discussion. What are some of those responsibilities that come from our privilege? Now, a lot of these are the substance that make up lots of sermons that fill lots of books. I think soon I'm going to have to be given a sermon every week, so I'm going to save these for that. But think of some of the things that come to mind immediately. We've got the responsibility for maturing and bearing spiritual fruit. And we can't just enjoy the privileges. We've got to mature and bear fruit. We're responsible for loving and supporting our brethren. And by this, shall all men know that you're my disciples if you love one another. Of course, not a small thing. We're responsible for preaching the gospel. Go to all the world and make disciples of all men.

But I'm working towards a conclusion here. I want to turn to the book of 2 Peter, chapter 1.

2 Peter, chapter 1 and verse 10. Let's look at one responsibility that I can't put off until later, because this is the one we've got to latch onto. If there's a special responsibility... I know I've said it too many times. If I can get that one more time. A special responsibility that comes with that privilege, it's this. We've got to look at it. 2 Peter 1 and verse 10.

And we'll read 10 and 11.

Just therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call an election sure. I think the Old King James says you're calling an election. Be diligent to make it sure. Hang on to it. Be loyal to it. Realize how special it is and make it sure. Don't let it slip away as though it's something that's not that valuable.

For if you do these things, you'll never stumble. And what's interesting, okay, you hang on to that special calling, that invitation you've got, and it leads to something much better. Even with all those privileges. And verse 11, it says, That's the end result. If we fulfill, and we appreciate this privilege we've got, the end result of the miracle that we're experiencing now is that we're going to be a part of God's family, and we're going to live forever.