Who Was Called in Scripture?
What does being created in His image mean for us?
As we discussed in the previous video, “calling is a charge from God, firstly to Himself and secondly to His mission shared by the church and accomplished through specific gifting in individuals.” In this video we will look at those called in Scripture and the principles we can draw from their lives and calling. These principles of calling will shape us and our learning in this course.
What similarities are in the stories of Abraham, Moses, and Paul in relation to calling?
^ Shortcode ^
Have you experienced in any of these components of calling?
You may not be called for the same purpose in God’s mission as Abraham, Moses, Paul, or your pastor. But God has called you to participate in God’s mission in some way and he will find a way to communicate this to you. Maybe this communication is clear, observable, and direct. Maybe it is more subtle, foundational, or nuanced. Either way, God has crowned you with honour by making you in His Image and he longs to share His mission and rule with you.
Where do you see God sharing his rule with you in creation?
Test Yourself
Answer
Talk it Through
-
1.3 Who Was Called in Scripture?
Answer in a paragraph:
How has God met you? How has he communicated, connected, confirmed, or given observable evidence of your call?
-
12 Replies
-
How has God met you? How has he communicated, connected, confirmed, or given observable evidence of your call?
I believe God has called me to “Friendship Evangelism”. God has given me favor with people and an ability to share the gospel effectively since memorizing scriptures as a young person.
-
Great Bradley. Friendship evangelism is a valid and important way that the gospel spreads. Someone once said that the early Christians went about “Gossiping the gospel.” When we can learn to speak truth to our friends, we can be confident that God is using us!
-
-
I believe I am called to be a missionary/ youth pastor but I’m still listening about the pastor part. I love talking to people and people seem to enjoy talking to me. God has communicated to me through people and opportunities I have had in my church and at bible camps. For example; When I was fifteen and a memory verse at camp was all about being a missionary and spreading Gods word. Another example would be working as a missionary at the one bible camp. I have never felt happier to know that I had Christians around to help me know God more.
-
Maria, it is exciting to sense God’s direction for our lives. Being called as a missionary is awesome. It is interesting that some people become “vocational” missionaries though because, in reality, all Christians are called to be missional. One way to say this is that as Christians, “we are already called.”
This does not undervalue one’s personal and particular calling to missions though. Often God uses individuals in this way to inspire the whole body.
-
-
How has God met you? How has he communicated, connected, confirmed, or given observable evidence of your call?
A pretty straightforward question, yet perhaps not as simple as may have been thought at first glance. Firstly, this is not a single question but a series of questions. God, according to the breath He has breathed in me has met me in many ways, primarily He has woven my story with the threads found in Romans 8:28. As may have been inferred via my profile page as well as some answers already given to past questions, my life has not been exactly an easy one. I will not get into specifics right now as it has no bearing on the topic at hand. As I was saying, God has taken the painful experiences in my life and continues to use them to form me I believe more into His image, as He too was a man acquainted with sorrow. In these years of process, God has met me every step of the way, bringing healing to my brokenness, therefore making it possible to meet others in their own brokenness. (Blessed are the poor or beggars in spirit ) To say that in all of this God has communicated to me, would be the understatement of the century, as young as this century may be. His communication to me has been via the different aspects of His character. As the one Who holds all things together, the One Who makes sense of this mess called life, and the One Who gives our very existence purpose and meaning; He is my King. As the one Who has taken my life from the miry pit and set my feet upon a rock, as the One Who has led me through the valley of the shadow of death, as the One who is closer than a brother and the one Who as promised has never left or forsaken me, but instead has made himself very present and tangible, He is my shepherd. As the One Who has and continues to out of His deep passionate love, that although He loves me as I am, refuses to leave me that way, through His convictions, He is my judge. As the One Who calls me out of my darkness tells me that I am lovely even though I call myself dark, as the One Who stands at my door and knocks, awaiting my response to His marriage proposal, He is my bridegroom.
In all this, He has met me where I am, not as I should be, because I’ll never be as I should be, in all this He has called me by name. Recently I came across this verse in Psalm 82:3 TPT “Defend the defenceless, the fatherless and the forgotten,
the disenfranchised and the destitute.” In the previous two verses to this, we see that God has shown up as the ultimate judge. He then directly addresses those appointed as judges and lays bare for all to see their wickedness and corruption. In verse three, I believe we are given a glimpse into the heart of God as He explains in no uncertain terms how He sees the role of judge to be, In this, I believe I have been called, not as a judge but as a shepherd. Currently, I would say I don’t want to be a pastor because there can be far too much politics in that and my tolerance for politics is rather low. Instead, as Martin Luther King Jr once said “hate is too great a burden to carry, I choose love.” In my life, He has patiently led me in His ways, He has bound up my wounds and put oil on my brokenness. He has led me through the valley of the shadow of death, revealing to me that He was there all along. For in Him the only appropriate response I have is I shall not want as He shepherds my life. So with this life He has graciously given me, He has imparted to me a deep desire to help others especially those mentioned in vs 3 to see their true identity, first as those created in His image, to be able to see our Fathers eyes in ourselves and others, and secondly for others to recapture their lives from the lies and trauma and to finally see themselves as God sees us, therefore giving new vision to all those around us. Recently in our church, I’ve volunteered with the youth department, as well as welcoming immigrants and refugees to our city and providing care for those in immediate need. I’ve also started and continue to create a blog called Hope Is Defiant. In this blog, I share prophetic stories I believe He has given me. Ultimately I don’t see this as the culmination of my calling, but the apprenticeship as I learn from others who have gone before me. -
I’m not sure why, but the link to your blog didn’t work, so I have added it here: https://www.hopeisdefiant.com/. But the title, Hope is Defiant, is an excellent summary of what you just wrote. You have summarized your life by recognizing how difficult it has been, while simultaneously seeing God’s sovereignty in it.
I was unfamiliar with the quote your blog is based on: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Are you also familiar with this quote? “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” — Frederick Buechner.
Finally, I wanted to say that it is okay to feel a call to ministry and to the pastorate even though you have a bad taste in your mouth for the politics that can go with it. If God wants you in that space, he will give you grace for it. Otherwise, there are many ways we can fulfill his calling without a formal ministry title.
Thanks for sharing.
Log in to reply.