No matter how much we wish for it to be, there is simply no father without the son. No one can claim a relationship with our heavenly Father without abiding in Jesus Christ the word of God.

Being under authority is the norm in the body of Christ, this is the same for men and women. There can be no ministry unless  we are first discipled in a church and then sent.

The gifts may work, so will the devil against us, because we stand alone.

This question of accountability and submission is so vital that I tell people that when they meet a minister for the first time, the first question  they should ask is “Who sent you?” or “Who do you submit to?” If the minister or pastor says “God” then, I warn that they should run from these quakes as fast as they can!

You see, if such women/men of God are sent, there is submission, obedience and accountability, If not they simply don’t want to submit to anyone else or have someone over them telling them what to do!

The Lord Jesus set an example by constantly referring to the fact that He was “sent” or “given” things to Him by His Father to do the work He gave Him to do. This shows He never called Himself to minister; Jesus needed to be sent or given ministry by someone higher than Himself for His ministry to be legitimate, even though He is God the Son (John 17:2-4, 6-9, 11-12, 18, 21, 23-25).

The early church also functioned with this concept of sending. For example, even though Saul and Barnabas had already felt called by God into ministry they didn’t dare send themselves until the leaders of the church in Antioch also received a confirming word from the Lord to send them. (Read Acts 13:1-2, in which the tense of the original Greek wording shows that God had already called Saul into the ministry before the leaders of the church received the confirming word.)

Even Paul the apostle submitted the gospel of grace he was preaching (to the Gentiles) to the leading apostles of the Jerusalem Church (Peter and John) for fear his work was in vain (Galatians 2:2, 9).

• Galatians 2:2 2 I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.
• Galatians 2:9 9 James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.

The bible specifies that while it is the God who calls, it is the church that sents.

Jesus said in Mathew 9:37 that the harvest is ready, but the workers are few. This shows that it is not just a matter of calling. In Matthew 22:1-14 we understand that many are called but a few are chosen. Even among those called, there was one present without the wedding garment who resolved to yield no homage, but to assert his independent self-sovereignty. What that symbolizes about that man is that

• He came into the banquet when he was told to, but he came only in appearance, he came not in heart.
• The banquet was intended for the honour of the son, this man was willing to eat the good things, but he intended no respect to the prince.
• He said, “I will come, but it shall be in such a way that the royal purpose shall not be served, but rather my purposes and needs be met.
• I shall be present myself as an onlooker, but take no share in the ceremony
• I will, on the contrary, show that I have no care for the business in hand, except so far as it serves my turn.
• The man came in full exercise of self-will and self-love.

The Lord calls every one to his kingdom regardless of sex.  The wedding garment highlights in a special way that he also expects all of us to abide by his expectations. Those who do not will be cast into the exterior darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. These are called but not chosen.  ( cf Mt 22:14).  THEY CAN NOT BE COUNTED AS WORKERS OR LABORERS FOR THE HARVEST.

Jesus stated his expectations for preparations of the laborers in Matt 28: 18-20

i)        ¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said,

(1)    “All authority in

(a)    heaven and

(b)   on earth has been given to me.

ii)       ¹⁹Therefore

(1)    Go (Remember, they are already his disciples, not untrained strangers)

(2)     and make disciples of all nations,

(3)    baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

iii)     ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

iv)     And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul tells Timothy “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” (NIV). How will they be qualified? By being entrusted with the things Timothy has heard, they will be qualified. They are reliable, they can be relied upon to walk the talk, to obey and to do, to submit to their calling.

Jesus discipled the 12 and sent them. Jesus expects them to make disciples of all nations. Discipleship requires submission to authority. It is those proven disciples in the church who are marked by the Holy Spirit to be sent by the elders.

This is the way it is according to the Bible. The choice is ours to abide or not.

A sister in the church has this line at the bottom of all her emails “A man cannot touch his neighbor’s heart with anything less than his own.” The fact is that we do touch others with the contents of our heart, and if our heart is set on rebellion, it will affect others in the church. This is the principle behind 1 Cor 5:9-11,  2 Timothy 3: 1-5, and Eph 5:11; where the bible tells us to have nothing to do with them, talking about those who call themselves Christians: “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”

There is simply no Father without the Son. No one can claim a relationship with our heavenly Father without abiding in Jesus Christ the word of God.

Those who claim to do so are under deception. Have nothing to do with them.

The king offered him money and food, both of which the man of God turned down. All seem to go well as he started his journey home taking another route.

Now in Bethel lived an old prophet who invited this man of God for a meal. This man of God turned down the offer by stating “For I was commanded by the word of the Lord, You shall eat no bread or drink water or return by the way you came.”

Not taking no for an answer, the old prophet said “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The the old prophet was lying!!!

To make a long story short, the man of God who came from Judah decides to eat with the prophet, and gets killed by a lion on the way afterwards.

After reading this passage, I thought about a couple of things:

• If there was a Prophet in Bethel, why did God have to send one from another city? Because this old prophet was not connected to God.
• Why did the old prophet want this man to eat with him so badly that he resorted to deceit? He knew he was not connected but wanted to show that he still in with the in crowd.  I’m sure there was some envy involved, and probably did not want to loose face.  After all, the man of God did heal the Kings hand which had shriveled as a punishment for rebellion to what God had spoken through him. These are the things that I might go through if I were in the old man’s disconnected and dry shoes.

What is shocking to see is that when the old prophet is called to identify the dead body of the man of God, he says  ““It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the LORD. Therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him.”” 1 kings 13:26

This serves as a warning for you and me. When we are on fire for God, when we succeed in what God has told us to do, be very careful of contrary visions and prophecies from ‘qualified mouths’. We need to “discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:10

If God takes the trouble to tell me to go to Bethel from Judah, and come back another way, then I should be 100% sure that if “God changes his mind”, he has the means at his disposal to tell me of it personally.

Guard the fire and the vision God has put in you.

Shalom. This issue brings us to the conclusion of the New Believers Manual. I have taken material from the Shepherd’s Staff and used other sources when I believed its theology to be in error. All sources are marked in the individual letters. My intention remains to make available the basics of Christian faith.

I stand in awe what I see as God’s timing with these newsletters. Many issues were in sync with the happenings of the week; Easter for example. This series ends today, and I turn 41 tomorrow. I did not plan this to be so. While it might mean nothing to you, this for me is an unshakeable confirmation and an encouragement from my father in Heaven.

This week’s study is about the call of God in our lives. At best, this skims the surface of the purposes of God in our lives. As with many topics, we will be going deeper as the Lord leads in the coming days.

God has a plan for the life of every individual believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only does His call involve a wonderful purpose for us throughout eternity, but we also have an expression of that call upon the earth now.

“Who has saved us, and CALLED us with an holy calling … according to his own purpose and grace…” (2 Tim 1:9).

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ… and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE” (Rom 8:17, 28). See also verses 29,30.

A. GOD HAS CALLED US

1. From The Foundation Of The World
“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Eph 1:4,5). See also 2:10 and Matthew 25:34.

2. To Be Separated Unit Him
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet 2:9). See also Romans 9:23-26.

3. To fulfill His Purpose
“So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord… who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace…” (2 Tim 1:8,9). See also Romans 8:28, Philippians 3:14.

B. OUR CALL ON EARTH

“Paul a servant [slave] of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (Rom1:1).

In describing his own ministry, the Apostle Paul gives us an example of the call that is upon EVERY believer. It has three aspects.

1. The General Calling – “A Slave Of Christ”
Jesus paid a high price for us: His own life.
“For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s free man; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave. You were bought with a price…” (1 Cor 7:22,23). See also 1 Corinthians 6:19,20).

When Paul calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ, he is pointing to an even deeper meaning. According to the custom of his day, if a slave came to the time when he could be set free, but because of love for his master chose not to accept his freedom, he then received a mark pieced in his hear. this was the sign that he was a “love-slave” to his master for life (Exo 21:5,6; Deut 15:16,17). the Apostle Paul, by choice, declared himself a love-slave of the Lord Jesus.

2. The Special Calling – “Called To Be An Apostle”
Just as the Apostle Paul had a special calling upon his life, so does every believer. Paul was called to be an apostle, but there are many different callings in the Body of Christ. See Romans 12:3-8; Ephesians 4:7-16. the special part that God has for us to play will be revealed to us as we earnestly seek His will.

3. The Particular Calling – “Separated To The Gospel”
Within each special calling there is a particular calling. For example, Peter and Paul were both apostles, but one was the apostle to the Jews and the other to the Gentiles. See Romans 11:13; 1 Timothy 2:7; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.

We move into our special and particular calling only as we prove ourselves as “love-slaves,” for we must first learn to be wholly under the authority of Christ before we can be SENT by Him. See Matthew 28:18,19.

C. WHY DOES HE CALL US?

1. Because The World Is In Darkness
“We know that we ourselves are children of God, and we also know that the world around us is under the power of the evil one” (1 Jn 5:19 Phillips). See also Ephesians 6:12 and Colossians 1:13.

2. Because People Are Hungry And In Need
“When he saw the crowds; he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt 9:36).

3. To Prove His Wisdom
“His intent was that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly realms, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph 3:10,11).

4. Because The Time Is Short
“Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest”? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! they are ripe for the harvest!” (John 4:35). See also John 9:4.

D. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE ARE CALLED?

1. We Are Made By Him
“‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I WILL MAKE YOU fishers of men”‘ (Matt 4:19). See also Jeremiah 18:1-10.

2. We Are Taught By Him
“But the Counselor, the Holy spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). See also 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1 John 2:27.

3. We Are Sent By Him
“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18). See also Mark 16:15.

When God calls, He comes and interrupts our lives. Some examples of this in the Scripture are:

• Moses (a shepherd in the desert): “Go, set my people free” (Exo 3:1-12).
• Samuel (a boy serving in the temple): “Wake up, speak for me” (1 Sam 3:1-19).
• Ezekiel (a captive in a foreign land): “Stand up, I am sending you” (Eze 2:1-7).
• Disciples (businessmen, fishermen: “Come, follow me” (Luke 5:27,28; Matt 4:18-22)
• Saul (an enemy of the Church): “Go, I will tell you what you must do” (Acts 9:1-9)

MY COMMITMENT

Now that I realize that God has had a plan for my life even before the foundation of the world, I now make a total commitment to this plan and will follow the Lord all the way. I will teach others also about God’s call for their lives.