On Saturday evening, June 28, 2014 heaven welcomed home our friend, brother in the ministry, and former Southern Methodist Church President, Bedford Landers. Brother Bedford was a blessing to all who knew him, and he will always be remembered for his great love for His Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He preached what he lived and lived what he preached. He battled illness courageously and was faithful to His beloved Lord through it all. We will all miss him but know that we will see him in glory one day!
Month: June 2014
Lemuel Hayne
Lemuel Haynes was an African-American who was abandoned at 5 months old by his parents. He was raised by an all-white family as an indentured servant.
He fought in the American Revolution and later began formal ministerial training with two clergymen, studying Greek and Latin. He was the first African American to be ordained by any religious body in America by the year 1785.
He was influenced by the Calvinistic Theology of Edwards and Whitefield as was common among African American families in that day.a
In March 1788, Haynes accepted a call to pastor in Rutland, Vermont where he served an all-white congregation for thirty years— a relationship between pastor and congregation rare in Hayne’s time and in ours both for its length and for its racial dynamic.
According to the African American National Biography, his birth date is 18 July 1753 in West Hartford, Connecticut and he died the 28 September 1833, at the age of 80.
At the age of five months, Lemuel Haynes was given over to indentured servitude in Granville, Massachusetts. Although serving as an agricultural worker, part of the agreement required educating him. Through accompanying his masters to church, he became exposed to Calvinistic thought.
At about twenty years of age, he saw the Aurora Borealis, and, fearing the approach of the Day of Judgment as a result, he soon accepted Christianity.
Haynes held three pastorships after his ordination. The first was with an all-white congregation in Torrington, Connecticut, where he left after two years due to the active prejudice of several members.
His second call to the pulpit, from a mostly white church in Rutland, Vermont that had a few “poor Africans,” lasted for 30 years. During that time, Haynes developed an international reputation as a preacher and writer. In 1804, he received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Middlebury College, the first ever bestowed upon an African American. In 1801, he published a tract called “The Nature and Importance of True Republicanism…” which contained his only public statement on the subject of race or slavery.
Haynes was a lifelong admirer of George Washington and an ardent Federalist. In 1818, conflicts with his congregation, ostensibly over politics and style, led to a parting; there was some speculation, however, that the church’s displeasure with Haynes stemmed from racism. Haynes himself was known to say that “he lived with the people of Rutland thirty years, and they were so sagacious that at the end of that time they found out that he was a nigger, and so turned him away.”
His last appointment was in Manchester, Vermont, where he counseled two men convicted of murder; they narrowly escaped hanging when the alleged “victim” reappeared. Haynes’s writings on the seven-year ordeal became a bestseller for a decade.
Haynes argued that slavery denied black people their natural rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness“. Paralleling the recent American experience with oppression to the slave experience, Haynes wrote: “Liberty is equally as precious to a black man, as it is to a white one, and bondage as equally as intolerable to the one as it is to the other”.
Haynes passionately argue along Calvinist lines that God’s providential plan would defeat slavery and lead to the harmonious integration of the races as equals.
Middlebury College granted Haynes an honorary master of arts in 1804, the first advanced degree ever bestowed upon an African American.
Lemuel Haynes House, his home for the last 11 years of his life in South Granville, New York, when he was pastor of South Granville Congregational Church was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
In Hayne’s first published sermon, titled “The Character and Work of a Spiritual Watchman Described” (delivered at Hinesburgh, Feb. 23, 1791) He said,
Those who properly expect to give account will be very careful to examine themselves with respect to the motives by which they are influenced to undertake this work.
Such a minister will view himself as acting in the presence of a heart-searching God who requires truth in the inward part and will shortly call him to account for all the exercises of his heart.
He will search every corner of his soul to determine whether the divine honor or something else is the object of his pursuit. He has been taught by the rectitude of the divine law that God will not pass by transgressors but will judge the secrets of men.
The work will appear so great that nature will recoil at the thought, like Jeremiah: “Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child” (Jer. 1:6). Or with the great apostle, “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:16).
The true disciple of Jesus will not thrust himself forward into ministry like a heedless usurper but with the greatest caution and self-diffidence.
Information Age
The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age) is a period in human historycharacterized by the shift from traditional industry that the industrial revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on information computerization. The onset of the Information Age is associated with the Digital Revolution, just as theIndustrial Revolution marked the onset of the Industrial Age.
During the information age, the phenomenon is that the digital industry creates a knowledge-based society surrounded by a high-tech global economy that spans over its influence on how the manufacturing throughout and the service sector operate in an efficient and convenient way.
In a commercialized society, the information industry is able to allow individuals to explore their personalized needs, therefore simplifying the procedure of making decisions for transactions and significantly lowering costs for both the producers and buyers. This is accepted overwhelmingly by participants throughout the entire economic activities forefficacy purposes, and new economic incentives would then be indigenously encouraged, such as the knowledge economy.
The Information Age formed by capitalizing on the computer microminiaturization advances, with a transition spanning from the advent of the personal computer in the late 1970s, to the Internet’s reaching a critical mass in the early 1990s, and the adoption of such technology by the public in the two decades after 1990. This evolution of technology in daily life, as well as of educational life style, the Information Age has allowed rapid global communications and networking to shape modern society
Impact on jobs and income distribution
Jobs traditionally associated with the middle class (assembly line workers, data processors, foremen and supervisors) are beginning to disappear, either through outsourcing orautomation. Individuals who lose their jobs must either move up, joining a group of “mind workers” (engineers, doctors, attorneys, teachers, scientists, professors, executives, journalists, consultants), or settle for low-skill, low-wage service jobs.
The Information Age has impacted the workforce in several ways. First, it has created a situation in which workers who perform tasks which are easily automated are being forced to find work which involves tasks that are not easily automated. Second, workers are being forced to compete in a global job market.
Lastly, workers are being replaced by computers that can do the job more effectively and faster. This poses problems for workers in industrial societies, which are still to be solved. However, solutions that involve lowering the working timeusually find high resistance.
The “mind workers” are able to compete successfully in the world market and command high wages. Conversely, production workers and service workers in industrialized nations are unable to compete with workers in developing countries and either lose their jobs through outsourcing or are forced to accept wage cuts. In addition, the internet makes it possible for workers in developing countries to provide in-person services and compete directly with their counterparts in other nations.
This has had several major consequences, including increased opportunity in developing countries and the globalization of the workforce.
Workers in developing countries have a competitive advantage which translates into increased opportunities and higher wages. The full impact on the workforce in developing countries is complex and has downsides.
In the past, the economic fate of workers was tied to the fate of national economies. For example, workers in the United States were once well paid in comparison to the workers in other countries. With the advent of the Information Age and improvements in communication, this is no longer the case. Because workers are forced to compete in a global job market, wages are less dependent on the success or failure of individual economies.
SOURCE
Wikipedia
Victory will be ours… Thanks Be to GOD
This victory is not a victory we earn; it’s a victory we enter. It is Christ’s victory. This is why victory is assured if we trust Christ. It’s His victory already won. This is why Paul could write, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
Sometimes less is more
By Lori Thomason
The human soul looks for one thing relentlessly through life and will never be at peace without it. Everyone is in pursuit of satisfaction and will stop at nothing to find it. It is the one thing everyone desires but seems to be the most elusive. We look for it in food, people, things and in life overall.
Sadly, satisfaction is not found in the world. Satisfaction is a completeness and wholeness that can only be found in one place – the Presence of God. It is not an emotion but a state of mind that quiets the thoughts and steadies the heart of mankind. Desperately man hunts the one thing he cannot attain climbing and clawing his way to the top hoping to find it. Unfortunately, man’s rise to the top is a selfish endeavor filled with pride.
At the top of every ladder, there are more rungs to climb and at the top of every staircase another set of steps always moving and never stopping. The burden of the pursuit of happiness has encumbered the spirit of man. The weight of defeat pulls him closer to the ground while he claws to be free. However failure is not always a bad thing. It is devastating, yes. But it is in our weakness that we find the only One who can ever satisfy our soul. The satisfaction we spend each day looking for is held firmly in the grasp of God. It is in the nail-scarred Hands of Jesus that the peace and joy that we long for is found.
A humbled heart invites God’s intervention in our life. A lowly spirit allows the Living Spirit of God to take over and begin to restore, renew and replenish our soul. As the things in life become less important, the load that has us bent is freed. Nothing will satisfy a hungry heart or thirsty soul but the Lord. It is time to discover when less is more.
Proverbs 13:25 (NKJV)
The righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul, but the stomach of the wicked shall be in want.
Everyone loves comfort food. It releases endorphins in the body that replicate satisfaction but only for a moment. In a country plagued by obesity, people have resorted to the temporary fix of food to satisfy the needs in life. However, it comes at a high price. Heart disease, joint strain, diabetes and more have burdened the physical being filling doctor’s offices and pharmacies with hurting people. What was meant to bring comfort has actually caused greater harm. Food will never satisfy a hungry soul. Some foods will actually make you hungrier. It is a deception of the enemy and an assault on the Body of Christ as well as all mankind. Fasting can satisfy one’s soul. The lack of food can actually bring clarity and peace to one’s life. The absence of certain things creates room for the Lord in our life. It brings the flesh under control allowing our spirit to connect with God’s Spirit. Are you eating your life away hoping for immediate satisfaction? I challenge you to a fast today. Take control of your body. It doesn’t have to be drastic to bring release. Your faithfulness and obedience will open the floodgates of God’s Mercy and Grace. His Hand will open to release true satisfaction in your life. Less will be more.
Jude 1:17-19 (NLT)
But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ said. They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.
People cannot satisfy you. If anything, where there are two or more there is potential for conflict. Even in the closest relationship, there is opposition. Two people never agree all the time. One’s ability to discover the truth and make it their own will allow for differences that do not result in arguments or division. Our expectations of others define our relationships. If we place a specific need on another, then there is an immediate burden for the other person to perform. If they do not meet our expectation, then conflict arrives because we are immediately let down. The dissatisfaction is created because our expectation was not put in God’s Ability but another person’s. People will sin. Mankind is weak. Humans are selfish. It is their natural disposition outside of Jesus Christ. Why give them the power to satisfy or dissatisfy your soul? Instead place all your expectation and hope in the Lord and receive companionship from others and fellowship. The less you expect others to satisfy your soul the more productive and less burdened your relationships will be. Jesus is the only One who can satisfy your soul. The less you choose others to fill the voids in your life the more room there is for Jesus to satisfy your soul.
Ecclesiastes 6:7-10 (NLT)
All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough. So are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others? Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind. Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny.
God does not allow hunger for man to work himself to death to attain satisfaction. He allows hunger so that man will pursue Him. The Goodness of God that surrounds us sometimes makes it difficult to see the One who has blessed us. People are bound to their schedules barely able to find time for God. Struggling with dissatisfaction about their family, job, house, bank account, car and things, they miss the peace that is found in simply standing in the Presence of God asking for nothing just being with Him. This is the place of satisfaction. Sometimes God has to remove everything we put in between the two of us so that we can find that which we are looking for. Your destiny is decided and your toil will not change the outcome so why bother? Stuff can definitely get in the middle of our relationship with God creating worry, anxiety, fear and doubt. All of these emotions abort faith and the ability to find true satisfaction in life. You will never be satisfied in and of yourself. Only the Spirit of the Living God can show us the way of a content life and satisfied soul. We have to give up some stuff to make room for God.
Psalm 17:15 (NLT)
Because I am righteous, I will see you. When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.
If righteousness is found in Jesus Christ, there is nothing I can do to attain it. This means that less of “me” is definitely required to find more of God. Let God show you His Plan. You will be satisfied. It was created with you in mind. No one knows the longing of your heart like the Lord. Place all your expectation in God and His Kingdom removing it from this world and experience freedom. His Love, Grace and Mercy will pour into your life filling all the voids left in the pursuit of contentment. God will satisfy your soul when you decide less is more.
The Life and Ministry of Charles Spurgeon
Article and Presentation By John Piper
Charles Spurgeon was the kind of Calvinist who would have celebrated the founding of the Nicole Institute of Baptist Studies at this non-Baptist Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. One of the reasons we can know this is that Spurgeon appointed George Rogers to be the first principal of his Pastors’ College. Rogers was a Congregationalist and a paedobaptist. He could not even have been a member of Spurgeon’s own church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle.1
Spurgeon was a Baptist, but like some of us—and perhaps like Roger Nicole—he did not always find his deepest soul-brothers among his own Baptist denomination. He put it this way:
If I disagree with a man on 99 points, but happen to be one with him in baptism—this can never furnish such ground of unity as I have with another with whom I believe in 99 points, and only happen to differ upon one ordinance.2
In fact in the late 1880s during the Downgrade controversy over liberalism in the Baptist Union, it was the evangelical Anglicans who supported Spurgeon while he was vilified by most of the more liberal Baptists. There was in Spurgeon’s life and preaching such a robust, joyful, serious, Christ-exalting, atonement-cherishing, God-centeredness that he felt a kinship with anyone who had these same instincts, regardless of denomination. Here’s how he described his Calvinism:
To me, Calvinism means the placing of the eternal God at the head of all things. I look at everything through its relation to God’s glory. I see God first, and man far down in the list. . . . Brethren, if we live in sympathy with God, we delight to hear Him say, “I am God, and there is none else.”3
He was through and through a Calvinist not out of any allegiance to a system or a tradition or a denomination, but because he thought Calvinism was simply a poor name for the full-blooded biblical gospel.
Puritanism, Protestantism, Calvinism [he said, are simply] . . . poor names which the world has given to our great and glorious faith,—the doctrine of Paul the apostle, the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.4
That’s why he was open and unashamed to preach the whole counsel of God even if it was called Calvinism. It was the gospel. “People come to me for one thing. . . I preach to them a Calvinist creed and a Puritan morality. That is what they want and that is what they get. If they want anything else they must go elsewhere.”5
But he was so riveted on the substitutionary atonement through the cross and on the supremacy of Jesus Christ that he could smell the aroma of new birth in many places outside his Calvinist tribe.
Far be it for me to imagine that Zion contains none but Calvinistic Christians within her walls, or that there are none saved who do not hold our views.6. . . I rejoice to confess that I feel sure there are some of God’s people even in the Romish Church.7
On the first Sunday in the newly built, 5,600-seat Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, Spurgeon set these things in perspective. It was 1861. He was 27 years old. He had been at his church since he was 19 and was now moving into a huge new building.
I would propose that the subject of the ministry in this house, as long as this platform shall stand and as long as this house shall be frequented by worshippers, shall be the person of Jesus Christ. I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist; I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist; but if I am asked what is my creed, I reply, “It is Jesus Christ.”8
So I am sure he would be pleased not only with the founding of the Nicole Institute of Baptist Studies at RTS, but also that we are here mainly to magnify Jesus Christ and his word rather than the man, Charles Spurgeon.
But let me give you just one biblical warrant for making the life of this man the lens for looking at Jesus. You might think I would go to Hebrews 11 which is a great biblical warrant for loving Christian biography. But I am rather going to cite Philippians 3:17, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” Not just keep your eyes on Christ. And not just keep your eyes on Paul who imitates Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). But keep your eyes on those who “walk according to the example you have in [Paul].” So first there is Christ, then Paul, then those who follow Paul’s example, then the Philippians, each being inspired and guided by those before.
And, surely, there is no reason to think that this process of appropriate imitation and inspiration should stop after the third generation following Christ. So I would say, wherever you see a life lived in the power of Christ, according to the word of Christ, for the glory of Christ, “keep your eyes on that life.” Spurgeon is one of those lives. And that’s what we are doing.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born June 19, 1834 at Kelvedon, Essex in England the first of 17 children. He was converted at the age of 16, remarkably in a snow storm through a lay Methodist preacher, and a year later became the pastor at Waterbeach Chapel in Cambridge—and never had any formal theological education. Yet he was perhaps the most well-read pastor in England. His 5,103 volume personal library was purchased in 1906 by William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri for $2,500, and then in 2006 by Midwestern Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri for $400,000.
About three years later in 1854 at the age of 19 he began his ministry at New Park Street Church, London with about 200 people. Two years later, 1856, he married Susannah Thompson who bore him twin sons, Charles and Thomas (who followed his father as pastor after his father’s death). He preached at this church, later named the Metropolitan Tabernacle, for 38 years and died at the age of 57 in 1892 (four years before my grandmother was born).
Spurgeon is considered by many to be one of the greatest preachers since the days of the apostles. He had preached over 600 times before he was 20 years old. In those pre-radio, pre-television, pre-internet days, his sermons sold about 20,000 copies a week being translated into 20 languages. The collected sermons fill 63 volumes equivalent to the 27 volume ninth edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, and “stands as the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity.”9 There were no microphones and he projected his voice so that 5,000 people could hear him week in and week out.
You might think that his son would be a biased witness, but on the other hand, sons of preachers are just as often critical of their fathers. It’s not a lopsided judgment when Charles says,
There was no one who could preach like my father. In inexhaustible variety, witty wisdom, vigorous proclamation, loving entreaty, and lucid teaching, with a multitude of other qualities, he must, at least in my opinion, ever be regarded as the prince of preachers.10
And surely that is not a bad title for one with such extraordinary gifts, and remarkable qualities that set him off in ability and accomplishment in a class almost by himself. And what I would like to do in the time we have is direct your attention to two of those qualities that have inspired me and that I pray will be instilled in the pastors being trained here at RTS and through the Nicole Institute of Baptist Studies.
1. Spurgeon loved God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated truth and exulted over it in the pulpit.
Spurgeon defined the work of the preacher like this: “To know truth as it should be known, to love it as it should be loved, and then to proclaim it in the right spirit, and in its proper proportions.”11 He said to his students, “To be effective preachers you must be sound theologians.”12 He warned that “those who do away with Christian doctrine are, whether they are aware of it or not, the worst enemies of Christian living . . . [because] the coals of orthodoxy are necessary to the fire of piety.”13
Two years before he died he gave an illustration of how crucial truth is in the ministry and reveals some of the humor that marked his ministry in a very serious way.
Some excellent brethren seem to think more of the life than of the truth; for when I warn them that the enemy has poisoned the children’s bread, they answer ‘Dear brother, we are sorry to hear it; and, to counteract the evil, we will open the window, and give the children fresh air.’ Yes, open the window, and give them fresh air, by all means. . . . But, at the same time, this ought you to have done, and not to have left the other undone. Arrest the poisoners, and open the windows, too. While men go on preaching false doctrine, you may talk as much as you will about deepening their spiritual life, but you will fail in it.14
And I can testify that in the last two months of transition at our church as my official ministry there has come to a close, the most common expression of thankfulness is from those people who say that the storms of suffering have not overturned the boat of their faith because of the ballast of God-centered truth—God-centered doctrine—laid down in the bottom of their boat through the preaching of God’s word. But it is absolutely crucial that preachers take all three admonitions seriously: “To know truth as it should be known, to love it as it should be loved, and then to proclaim it in the right spirit, and in its proper proportions.”
Paul speaks in 2 Thessalonians 2:10 of those who “are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” When preachers realize, as Spurgeon did, that people perish for not loving the truth then they will give themselves to knowing it and loving it and proclaiming it in the beauty of biblical proportions.
The source of the truth in all Spurgeon’s preaching was the God-breathed, inerrant Christian Scriptures. He held up his Bible and said,
These words are God’s. . . . Thou book of vast authority, thou art a proclamation from the Emperor of Heaven; far be it from me to exercise my reason in contradicting thee. . . . This is the book untainted by any error; but it is pure unalloyed, perfect truth. Why? Because God wrote it.15
Spurgeon was not just a Bible-based preacher, but a Bible-saturated preacher. My passion for younger preachers today is that they not preach sermons that hover just above the text constantly making points that people do not see in the text, but that they explain what is in the text clearly and exult over what is in the text passionately, and that they do it in such a way that the people can see exactly where they got it—the very phrases, the very logic. Spurgeon has a famous passage where he pleads for preachers to be Bible-saturated, not just Bible-based.
Oh, that you and I might get into the very heart of the Word of God, and get that Word into ourselves! As I have seen the silkworm eat it into the leaf, and consume it, so ought we to do with the Word of the Lord; Not crawl over its surface, but eat right into it till we have taken it into our inmost parts. It is idle merely to let the eye glance over the word . . . but it is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your very style is fashioned upon Scripture models, and, what is better still, your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord.
I would quote John Bunyan as an instance of what I mean. Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like reading the Bible itself. He had studied our Authorized Version . . . till his whole being was saturated with Scripture; and, though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress—that sweetest of all prose poems,—without continually making us feel and say, “Why, the man is a living Bible!” Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him.16
I pray that RTS and the Nicole Institute of Baptist Studies will be lovingly known as Reformed Bible-saturated Theological Seminary and the Nicole Institute of Bible-saturated Baptist Studies. Spurgeon is a great example of loving the whole of biblical truth and exulting over it in the pulpit.
2. Spurgeon loved people and labored to win them and build them.
It appears that during his mature ministry there was not a week that went by that souls were not saved through his preached and published sermons.17 He and his elders were always on the “watch for souls” in the great congregation. “One brother,” he said, “has earned for himself the title of my hunting dog, for he is always ready to pick up the wounded birds.”18
Spurgeon let us see his heart for people’s eternal good when he said,
I remember, when I have preached at different times in the country, and sometimes here, that my whole soul has agonized over men, every nerve of my body has been strained and I could have wept my very being out of my eyes and carried my whole frame away in a flood of tears, if I could but win souls.19
He was consumed with the glory of God and the salvation of men. He embodies Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12:15. “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” And 1 Corinthians 9:22, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” He was driven never to be satisfied with past pursuits, but pressed ever forward (like Paul in Phil. 3:14) toward greater holiness and greater fruitfulness. “Satisfaction with results will be the [death] knell of progress. No man is good who thinks that he cannot be better. He has no holiness who thinks that he is holy enough.”20
The year he turned 40 he delivered a message to his pastors’ conference with the one-word title, “Forward!” In it he said,
In every minister’s life there should be traces of stern labor. Brethren, do something; do something; do something. While Committees waste their time over resolutions, do something. While Societies and Unions are making constitutions, let us win souls. Too often we discuss, and discuss, and discuss, while Satan only laughs in his sleeve. . . . Get to work and quit yourselves like men.21
Part of his motive in the indefatigable way he pursued the salvation of sinners was his earnest belief in future, eternal punishment and the glories of heaven.
Meditate with deep solemnity upon the fate of the lost sinner … Shun all views of future punishment which would make it appear less terrible, and so take off the edge of your anxiety to save immortals from the quenchless flame … Think much also of the bliss of the sinner saved, and like holy Baxter derive rich arguments from “the saints’ everlasting rest.” … There will be no fear of your being lethargic if you are continually familiar with eternal realities.22
When Spurgeon’s love for God-centered, Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting truth fed his zeal for perishing sinners, an avalanche of energy and ministry was created.
No one living knows the toil and care I have to bear … I have to look after the Orphanage, have charge of a church with four thousand members, sometimes there are marriages and burials to be undertaken, there is the weekly sermon to be revised, The Sword and the Trowel to be edited, and besides all that, a weekly average of five hundred letters to be answered. This, however, is only half my duty, for there are innumerable churches established by friends, with the affairs of which I am closely connected, to say nothing of the cases of difficulty which are constantly being referred to me.23
At his 50th birthday a list of 66 organizations was read that he founded and conducted. Lord Shaftesbury was there and said, “This list of associations, instituted by his genius, and superintended by his care, were more than enough to occupy the minds and hearts of fifty ordinary men.”24
The missionary David Livingstone, asked him once, “How do you manage to do two men’s work in a single day? Spurgeon replied, “You have forgotten there are two of us.”25 I think he meant the presence of Christ’s energizing power that we read about in Colossians 1:29. Paul says, “I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” Oh that every pastor who draws here would learn the secret of striving in the power that Christ mightily works in him.
Spurgeon stands as a witness to what happens when love for God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated truth feeds the flame of love for people—people who will perish without that truth—that God, that Christ. An explosion of zeal and energy and creativity for in the church. All of it aiming to glorify God and bring sinners into the fullness of joy in him.
So may God make Reformed Theological Seminary and the Nicole Institute of Baptist Studies a breeding ground for such love for truth and such love for people and such creative energy for ministry.
1 Geoff Thomas, “The Preacher’s Progress” in A Marvelous Ministry: How the All-Round Ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon Speaks to Us Today, (Ligonier, PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1993), p. 61. Spurgeon said, he “would rather give up his pastorate than admit any man to the church who was not obedient to his Lord’s command [of baptism].” Ibid. p. 43.
2 Ibid. p. 61 (cf. Sword and Trowel, XXIV, 1883, p. 83).
3 Charles Haddon Spurgeon, An All Round Ministry, (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1960), p. 337.
4 An All Round Ministry, p. 160.
5 A Marvelous Ministry, p. 38.
6 A Marvelous Ministry, p. 65.
7 C. H. Spurgeon: Autobiography, vol. 2, (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1973), p. 21.
8 Bob L. Ross, A Pictorial Biography of C. H. Spurgeon, (Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1974), p. 66.
9 Eric W. Hayden, “Did You Know?” in Christian History, Issue 29, Volume X, No. 1, p. 2.
10 Autobiography, vol. 2, p. 278.
11 Charles Haddon Spurgeon, An All Round Ministry, p. 8.
12 Ibid.
13 A Marvelous Ministry, p. 128.
14 An All Round Ministry, p. 374.
15 A Marvelous Ministry, p. 47.
16 Autobiography, vol. 3, p. 268.
17 Arnold Dallimore, Spurgeon, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1984), p. 198.
18 Autobiography, vol. 2, p. 76.
19 A Marvelous Ministry, pp. 49–50.
20 An All Round Ministry, p. 352.
21 An All Round Ministry, p. 55.
22 Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 315.
23 Autobiography, vol. 2, p. 192.
24 Dallimore, Spurgeon, p. 173.
25 Eric W. Hayden, “Did You Know?” in Christian History, Issue 29, Volume X, No. 1, p. 3.
PRAYING FOR AMERICA
Samuel Adams (1722-1803), called the “Father of the American Revolution,” helped organize the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence (leading to the forming of committees in all 13 Colonies; eventually the Continental Congress).
On February 28, 1795, while Governor of Massachusetts, Adams called the people to a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer:
THE supreme Ruler of the Universe, having been pleased, in the course of his Providence, to establish the Independence of the United States of America, and to cause them to assume their rank, among the nations of the Earth, and bless them with Liberty, Peace and Plenty; we ought to be led by Religious feelings of Gratitude; and to walk before Him, in all Humility, according to his most Holy Law. But, as the depravity of our Hearts has, in so many instances drawn us aside from the path of duty, so that we have frequently offended our Divine and Merciful Benefactor; it is therefore highly incumbent on us, according to the ancient and laudable practice of our pious Ancestors, to open the year by a public and solemn Fast. That with true repentance and contrition of Heart, we may unitedly implore the forgiveness of our Sins, through the merits of Jesus Christ, and humbly supplicate our Heavenly Father, to grant us the aids of his Grace, for the amendment of our Hearts and Lives, and vouchsafe his smiles upon our temporal concerns:
I HAVE therefore thought fit to appoint, and with the advice and consent of the Council, I do hereby appoint Thursday, the Second Day of April next, to be observed as a Day of Public Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer throughout this Commonwealth: Calling upon the Ministers of the Gospel, of every Denomination, with their respective Congregations, to assemble on that Day, and devoutly implore the Divine forgiveness of our Sins, To pray that the Light of the Gospel, and the rights of Conscience, may be continued to the people of United America; and that his Holy Word may be improved by them, so that the name of God may be exalted, and their own Liberty and Happiness secured.-That he would be graciously pleased to bless our Federal Government; that by a wise administration, it may be a sure guide and safe protection in national concerns, for the people who have established, and who support it; That He would continue to us the invaluable Blessings of Civil Liberty; guarding us against intestine commotions; and enabling the United States, in the exercise of such Governmental powers, as are devolved upon them, so that the honor and dignity of our Nation, upon the Sea and the Land, may be supported, and Peace with the other Powers of the World, upon safe and honorable terms, may be maintained.
That he would direct the administration of our Federal and State Governments, so that the lives, liberties and property of all the Citizens, and the just rights of the People, as Men and Citizens, may be forever acknowledged, and at all times defended, by Constitutions, founded upon equal rights; and by good and wholesome Laws, wisely and judiciously administered and duly executed.
That he would enable Legislators and Magistrates of this Commonwealth, to discharge the important duties incumbent on them, that the People may have good reason to feel themselves happy and safe, and lead quiet and peaceable lives in all Godliness and Honesty.
That he would …crown…by his blessing… our Commerce, and all the labor of our Hands to affect our minds with a sense of our entire dependence upon Him, and of his great goodness towards us, that when we may present ourselves before Him… our thank-offerings, our Hearts may by his grace, be prepared to do it in a manner acceptable to Him…
That He would in his great Mercy, remember the unhappy state of our Fellow-Citizens and others, who are groaning under bondage, in a foreign Land. That He would soften the Hearts of those who have led them captive, inclining that People to show them favor during their Captivity, and in His own due time open a door for their relief: And finally, that He would over-rule all the confusions that are in the Earth, of the speedy establishment of the Redeemer’s Kingdom, which consisteth in Righteousness and Peace.
And I do recommend to the People of this Commonwealth, to abstain from all unnecessary Labor and Recreation on the said Day… Boston, February 28th, in the Year of our Lord, 1795, the 19th year of the Independence of the United States of America.
GOSPEL
The gospel will be found equal to every emergency; an arrow which can pierce the hardest heart, a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Charles Spurgeon
True Freedom is bearing the Weight of the Cross
So long I had searched for life’s meaning,
Enslaved by the world and my greed;
Then the door of the prison was opened by love,
For the ransom was paid – I was free.Refrain
I’m free from the fear of tomorrow,
I’m free from the guilt of the past;
For I’ve traded my shackles for a glorious song,
I’m Free! Praise the Lord! Free at last!I’m free from the guilt that I carried,
From that dull empty life I’m set free;
For when I met Jesus, He made me complete,
He forgot how foolish I used to be.
What will you do if God grants you another year of life?
CHOOSE TO SERVE HIM – MAKE HIM KNOWN
WITHOUT EVER DRAWING ATTENTION TO YOURSELF
I will serve Thee because I love Thee
You have given life to me.
I was nothing before You found me,
You have given life to me.
Heartaches, broken pieces,
Ruined lives are why You died on Calvary.
Your touch was what I longed for,
You have given life to me.
I will serve Thee because I love Thee
You have given life to me.
I was nothing before You found me,
You have given life to me.
Heartaches, broken pieces,
Ruined lives are why You died on Calvary.
Your touch was what I longed for,
You have given life to me.
Heartaches, broken pieces,
Ruined lives are why You died on Calvary.
Your touch was what I longed for,
You have given life to me.
You have given life—to me.
William J. and Gloria Gaither
Do you have a place to which you return because it is sacred to you — sacred because you know you can meet God there?
When I want to go to a place where I know I will meet God, I go to church, His word (especially the psalms), hymns, and __________ .
What about you?
A Different Prayer
O God, it occurs to us, that our prayers are sometimes one-sided. So today our prayer is not only for the usual things we pray for, but also for the opposite things.
We pray today not only for the sick but for the well, lest pride rule happy hearts. We pray not only for the poor but also for the rich who find it so hard to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We pray not only for the troubled but also for the favored ones, lest peace with the world be confused with the peace of God. We pray not only for the dying but also for the living, since they face eternity as well.
We pray not only for the burdened but also for the casual, lest indolence rot the soul. We pray for not only the President of our country but also the people—the people, yes—because it is they who pay for misrule when it comes. We pray not only for missionaries on foreign shores, but also for the rest of us who still don’t know that in Christ there is no east or west, north or south, but one great human family in a house that grows smaller and smaller by the years.
We pray not only for ministers of the Gospel, but also for people of the gospel, since all who believe are called to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. We pray not only for fair weather, but also for bad weather, since nature is impartial and often prodigal, and human estimates of good and bad do not count. We pray not only sinners to turn and be saved, but also for the rest of us who think we have no sin and are in greater need of penitence and healing. And finally, Lord, we pray not only for others, but also for ourselves, because salvation and righteousness begins at the household of God. Amen
Are you concerned with multi-ethnic church planting?
Theologian Christopher J.H. Wright in his marvelous book, The Mission of God, page 191, insightfully writes:
“If only all the theological disputes in Christian history had been caused by successful mission and rapid church growth. Undoubtedly the first dispute was. The first major council of the church (Acts 15) was convened to consider a knot of problems caused by the success of crosscultural church planting efforts. These had been initiated by the church of Antioch and carried out among the predominately Gentile and ethnically diverse peoples of the Roman provinces that made up what we now call Turkey. Paul and Barnabas, who had been entrusted with this initiative, were not the first to cross the barrier from Jew to Gentile with the good news of Jesus Christ. Philip (Act 8) and Peter (Acts 10) had already done that. They were, however, the first to establish whole communities of believers from mixed Jewish and Gentile backgrounds―that is, to plant multiethnic churches.”
Be Like Paul
As a church planter of a multi-ethnic, local church, it is so beautiful to see ethnically diverse people loving Jesus and each other as one voice glorifying God.
Derwin L. Gra, the founding and lead Pastor of Transformation Church, a multi-ethnic, multi-generational, mission-shaped community asked;
- What was the first major church dispute?
- Was it over Calvinism, Arminianism, or Molinism?
- Was it over speaking in tongues, prophecy, or healing?
He goes on to give an answer that maybe it was over worship music styles? Those Jews just couldn’t stand those Greek worship leaders wearing tight, skinny leg jeans.
In the this great piece on him in Christianity Today he further notes;
A Third Race of Humans is Born Out of the True Human: Jesus
The first major church dispute was over how fast multi-ethnic churches were growing outside of Jerusalem. These (ethnically) racially diverse congregations were blowing up the mental and cultural circuits of the Jewish believers in Jerusalem.
Ethnocentrism gives way to Christocentrism.
These 1st Century, multi-ethnic churches (Jew and Gentile) were filled with uncircumcised Gentiles (Africans, Arabs, Greeks, Syrians, Asians, Romans, Persians, and more). See Colossians 3:11, Ephesians 2:14-16, Galatians 3:24 and the rest of the Bible.
Sure, the Council at Jerusalem in Acts 15 was about circumcision and food, but it was also about race (ethnicity). The Gospel of grace is so glorious; a new humanity is birthed and humanity is reconciled to God and to each other (2 Cor. 5:14-21).
Before Jesus, there were two ethnic groups on earth: Jew and Gentile. After Jesus’ resurrection, a new ethnic group made up of Jews and Gentiles was birthed. This new ethnic group is called the Church; the one “new man.” Ethnocentrism gives way to Christocentrism.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. Ephesians 2:14-16 ESV
Why following other gods is such a poor choice
In his final speech predicting spiritual decline, Moses faced the nation of Israel. Among many things Moses spoke are these words:
They made Him jealous with strange gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
They sacrificed to demons who were not God,
To gods whom they have not known,
New gods who came lately,
Whom your fathers did not dread.
(Deuteronomy 32:16-17)
Understanding who the gods are and what that awkward name, “Jealous God,” really means can help us avoid Israel’s mistakes.
- The Bible implies that the word “god” is nothing more than a palatable name that people have been duped into giving to a demonic being. Paul exposed the underlying demonic forces that wait to pounce on those who dabble in idolatry. Canaanite idols were referred to as demons. So, the gang that we call gods and associate with idols is really a gang of demonic spirits that is under Satan’s leadership. There is only one true God with supreme power.
Paul wrote of certain “enemies of the cross,” whose “god is their appetite. Food or anything of which we say, “I must have more,” can be an idol. Now, a craving for chocolate seems harmless enough, and in normal proportions it is, but urges that control us have strayed beyond healthy boundaries. Crossing those boundaries is what it means to succumb to temptation. Excessive desires behave like the worst idols; they hinder our relationships with God. They distract us or slime us with guilt and shame.
Jesus pointed out, “No one can serve two masters . . . You cannot serve God and mammon.” To make His point, Jesus personified riches as Mammon. No one can serve God and riches. Under Satan’s influence, wealth craves power and fights to be lord and master of our hearts.
Paul also said that “elemental things . . . which by nature are no gods” can enslave us. He was referring to legalism and to false religions.
Making God the object of our passion, so that no space remains for other gods, is the best safeguard against spiritual decline.
- What are we to make of His jealousy? Surely, the name, “Jealous God,” doesn’t suggest that God has a temper tantrum whenever anyone nods at a false god. That might frighten us from idolatry, but it certainly wouldn’t inspire genuine adoration of Him. Some people wince at this name of God, yet it is one of a few specifically stated names of God:
“You shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
God’s jealousy has to do with His affection for His people and His pursuit of the very best for them. Our best lies in intimate relationship with our Creator. Friendship with the world is spiritual adultery. God jealously longs for our spirits to abide in undivided relationship with Him.
Parents who watch their children drift away to a wasted life of pain get a taste of God’s jealousy. When God breathed His spirit into flesh, He created children. He loves us more than the best father imaginable does. Whenever God sees us lured into damaging behavior, a jealous rage fills His heart. Our loving Father says, “I hate watching my children stray. They are only happy and fulfilled when they have a relationship with Me.” His jealousy is a mixture of disappointment and grief. Knowing that the Jealous God has our very best in mind will actually increase our love for Him.
Portions adapted from http://www.biblematurity.com/jealous-god/
Why is evil still at work in the world?
Two reasons:
- First, a defeated Satan and his demons continue to fight their last stand while God prepares their final destruction.
- Second, much of the power of demons is in their propaganda. When they blind our eyes to the truth, they hold us spellbound in their lies.
The message of Moses, Jesus, and Paul exposes those lies and replaces them with the truth of God’s eternal sovereignty. The Living God is the one who can forever say, “I am He,” and who swears to punish His enemies and avenge His people.
Who will we believe?
- The forces of evil that claim the upper hand in an apparently deteriorating word?
- Or the Living God, who has calmly and clearly sworn His plans and demonstrated His power by raising His Son Jesus from the dead?
Hear the WORD…. again
See now that I, I am He,
And there is no god besides Me;
Deuteronomy 32:39-40
Does your brain hinder or help your walk with God?
In Corinthians, Paul contrasts human wisdom and discernment with the wisdom of God. Unredeemed minds listen for brilliant and compelling speeches laced with logic. Human wisdom baulks at a crucified Messiah. To the worldly wise, the mystery of the gospel seems crazy because, to them, it is encrypted. Even a natural person with exceptional intellect and great achievements will never grasp the mystery using human wisdom alone.
But we are not required to deposit our brains in a bin at the door to the Christian life. A well-used brain is great for making smart choices as we live the Christian life. Embarking on that life requires a faith step. Faith steps and spiritual discernment are not what brains do well. When a brain processes the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, the answer it spits out is—foolishness! The wisdom of God can only be grasped in faith and by the Spirit in us.
It is wisdom nonetheless, says Paul:
We do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written,
“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Cor. 2:6-9)
Paul saw himself as a steward of the mysteries of God. We’re stewards of those mysteries too, unveiling them to others. Let’s learn some lessons from Paul.
- Paul understood that, in leading people to Christ, persuasive arguments are of limited value; demonstrations of spiritual power are more likely to hit home. Miracles bypass the brain. They enter hearts through the back door, as it were, and confront them with frank facts—a miracle means there is a miracle-working God and He cares about the recipient. Pray that God will mingle miracles with your message.
- Paul knew how to listen to God, respond in faith, and apply his brain to obedient fruit bearing. Does your brain hinder or help your walk with God? Make sure it is functioning the way God designed it to.
Most portions taken from http://www.biblematurity.com/wisdom-of-god/
Why would anyone turn their back on leisure and luxury?
Right-minded people only do that when they are convinced that a better life awaits. To Moses’ friends in the account recorded in Exodus 3: 1-10 and Acts 7:22, his departure from Pharaoh’s household must have looked like the craziest investment decision.
Moses didn’t even have a hunch that it would pay off big time. He acted because he knew it was the right thing to do regardless of the outcome. We call that faith.
Once Moses got out of his bobbing basket he had it good. Imagine being scooped out of a river by order of a beautiful princess and then raised in the royal nursery and Pharaoh’s finishing school. Moses lived the fairytale life until he became a man—then he renounced it for something better.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26)
God often calls us to steps of faith, because faith is the currency of the kingdom of heaven. Faith is how we progress. It’s how we share in accomplishing God’s kingdom objectives. Steps of faith often require us to give up something: our security, our rights, a possession we have, or an investment we have made.
Moses’ abdication from the royal family cut him off from untold wealth and pleasure. Instead, he accepted the abuses of slavery, abuses that Scripture likens to the reproach that Christ suffered. Moses didn’t just become your average Joe; he moved to the slave ghetto. But according to his cost benefit analysis, his total loss amounted to less than the reward that awaited him for obeying God. It seemed as crazy as buying penny stocks, and it was years before he saw real returns, but it was worth it.
Sometimes we face similar faith challenges to Moses:
- It is relatively easy to distance ourselves from sinful behavior and injustices like slavery. Nonetheless, it takes courage to risk losing friends.
- The temptation to hang on to what we already have is strong. Many of us live with a poverty mentality. We struggle to believe that God could possibly bless us even more if we were to relinquish His earlier blessing. Yet the life of faith is often a cycle of giving up good things and receiving even greater blessings—often after a long wait.
- Perhaps the hardest step is to voluntarily adopt the life of society’s exploited outcasts. We can only do it when we know that those outcasts are the people of God’s family, the ones who experience the riches of His grace.
Are you ready to leave everything behind for the King and His kingdom?
Most Portions taken from http://www.biblematurity.com/kingdom/
Becoming a Kingdom People
Being bi-cultural is difficult. I refer to people who live successfully in different cultures at different times. Perhaps they are missionaries, expatriate business people, or part of a marriage that bridges two cultures.
Christians usually don’t realize it but every one of us is bi-cultural. We’re getting used to heaven but the homeland tugs at us. We need frequent reminders of the first rallying cry of John the Baptist and Jesus. It was like the flight attendant’s announcement when a plane touches down in a foreign country, “Welcome to the Kingdom of heaven. Please remember to drive on the right side of the road!”
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 3:1-2; 4:17; Mark 1:14-15)
Notice the context of the two announcements. John preached in Judea, the Jewish heartland. The ordinary people seemed to respond well but when the religious leaders slithered up, John challenged them, “bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance.” John came to dynamite rocky religious obstacles that blocked the path to relationship with God. His call for repentance was about as welcome as an explosion.
Jesus waited until the authorities had imprisoned John. Then He moved to Galilee where the locals had a reputation for non-conformity to religious and political niceties. The Galileans already knew they were sinners. Exactly the same words on Jesus’ lips conveyed a message of freedom. To humble Galileans, repentance spelled release from bondage and light ousting darkness.
The kingdom culture is different from any culture on earth. Even exemplary religious leaders must humbly accept that God’s ways are higher than our brightest and best. The word “repent” includes the idea of changed thinking, but it implies changed behavior too. Any thoughts and actions that are contrary to life in the kingdom of heaven are sinful and need to change.
I find myself struggling on two levels. Sometimes I try to live the Christian life in a worldly way, applying the world’s resources and values to good ends. For instance, I depend on harder work or a bigger investment of money in Christian projects rather than seeking God for fruit in those projects.
A more subtle struggle is when I live the worldly life in a Christian way, applying Christian behavior and seeking God’s provision and protection. The subtlety is the hidden goal—my own glory, not His.
Of course, we are all transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of heaven the moment we repent and believe in Jesus. Yet in this life we will always be bi-cultural. We have a lifetime to adapt to the culture of the kingdom, to “get with the flow” of kingdom “traffic.”
Train yourself to habitually ask what the objectives of the King are, and what are the methods of the kingdom? We are to live the kingdom life in the power of the Spirit. That means seeing life through God’s eyes and depending on His help to accomplish His will for His kingdom.
{Portions / Article taken from a post at http://www.biblematurity.com/kingdom-heaven/}
Spiritual Maturity
A few lifestyles have traditionally been associated with spiritual stature. Paul wrote about cultivating spiritual maturity as one of the responsibilities of church leaders. God gives us leaders for
the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. (Ephesians 4:12-15)
Paul pointed to Jesus as our model of spiritual maturity. Jesus never lived in a monastery; he worked as a carpenter in a rough country during rough times. Jesus certainly knew God well—as well as any son can know his father—but He knew men well too. Jesus’ relationship with God steered and energized His life in a hurting world. He knew the will of the Father and He obeyed it. Peter could not dissuade Jesus. Threats from religious authorities could not deflect Him from obedience.
For Jesus, spiritual maturity meant taking His knowledge of God and applying every drop of it to His everyday life—no compromise, no inconsistencies, no holding back.
Jesus never trumpeted His maturity. An ambition to become mature in Christ is never a bad thing, but as maturity develops, that ambition should be replaced by what someone called un-self-consciousness. “Un-self-consciousness” means taking my focus off myself and my spiritual growth. Instead, we fix our attention on God and other people. We become a channel of God’s love, truth, and power. We become a catalyst for what He wants to do in the lives of others.
Spiritual maturity might be discerned by onlookers, but the truly mature are likely to be unaware of it and would blush at the suggestion.
When God moves, nothing can shut him out
In the Bible, God does indeed call people — some people, at least — to particular work, and gives all people various kinds of guidance for their work.
There are a few people in the bible who received a direct, unmistakable command from God to take up a particular task, job, profession or type of work.
God called Noah to build the ark. God called Moses and Aaron to their tasks (Exodus 3:4, 28:1). He called prophets such as Samuel (1 Samuel 3:10), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:4-5), Amos (Amos 7:15) and others. He called Abram and Sarah and a few others to undertake journeys or to relocate (which might be taken as a kind of workplace calling). He placed people in political leadership including Joseph, Gideon, Saul, David and David’s descendants. God chose Bezalel and Oholiab as chief craftsmen for the tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-6). Jesus called the apostles and some other of his disciples (e.g., Mark 3:14-19), and the Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul to be missionaries (Acts 13:2).
What has GOD called you to do? Remember, the ultimate image of calling in the Bible is the calling to follow Jesus.
Erick Chepkwony, TH.D 