A Call to Service

Ephesians 4:4

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.

Today’s discussion is a continuation of March 18, 2010’s discussion titled, Ministerial Leadership Gifts for Christ’s Church: Ephesians 4:11 in preparation for my lecture series on said topic. I felt moved to discuss at length the different ministry leaders as it relate to the body of Christ and spreading His message of the gospel.

There is an on-going discussion taking place regarding women preachers. The question was, If God called you (woman) to preach? This discussion began on one of the Christian social network sites where I am a member. My answer to the question was who am I to say who God calls. For me personally, if God call me to preach that what I will do---God called me to teach. Simply, He is the creator and keeper of my soul, then, why fear man and others when neither have a heaven or hell to put you in. It is better to obey God than man any day! What did God say about pouring out His Spirit on all flesh?

Getting back to our topic of being called, as a believer in Christ each of us have been given a gift of ministry in the body of Christ, it may not be in a leadership position, but each member of His body have the responsibility to tell others about Christ and what He has done in your life---witness.
Let’s answer the question, what is a call? According to Zondervan’s Pictorial Bible Dictionary (P. 143), the word has over 20 different representation in the Hebrew and Greek text, but it has four different meanings as it relate to our discussion and they are (a) “To speak out in the way of prayer—“Call unto me, and I will answer thee” (Jeremiah 33:3). (b) To name a person or thing—“and God called the light day” (Genesis 1:5). (c) To summon or appoint---“I will call all the families of the kingdom of the earth” (Jeremiah 1:15). (d) To invite men to accept salvation through Christ. Most importantly, a call is by God through the Holy Spirit, and is heavenly (Hebrews 3:1) and holy (II Timothy 1:9). I Corinthians 1:26 and 7:20 use the word in a particular sense, as referring to that condition of life which men (humanity) were when they became Christians.

Before I close today’s discussion, let us compare the definition of “call” as recorded in The Student Bible Dictionary (P. 55) which states that “the noun form of the word is a summons or an appointment from God to serve Him in a specific way for a specific purpose ( I Samuel 3:4; Isaiah 6; 49:1). The verb form of the word is to “invite to become a follower of Christ---a Christian (Matthew 9:13; Philippians 3:14. Depend on God; invite His attention in prayer (Genesis 4:26; Jeremiah 33:3). Also, it means to name or describe, which often includes the beginning of a relationship with a person or thing (Genesis 1:5; 2:19; Matthew 1:21; Mark 10:18). See the similarities in the two definitions?

Allow me to close today’s discussion at this point and we will continue this discussion with the Call of Abraham and other patriarchs and notable women in the Bible as our examples of God’s calling persons to ministry in next week’s discussion. I am laying the ground work for Ministerial Leadership discussion by pointing out the fact God call whomever He please as all believers are called to service.

Closing thought and question, many Christians are called to be ministers. What do you think God is calling you to do or be? Have you answered your call?

As always your comments and thoughts are welcome. Post them to my website or blog site noted below. I am in the process of establishing and implementing the upload and interactive capabilities from my website.

Contact: wwhite@goodshepherdwritingandpbulishing.com
http://willie-writing.blogspot.com