Please, let's pray. Let's pray together.
Father, we want to thank you so much for a glorious opportunity
in Your presence. Whenever Your word has gone
forth, there has always been the manifest evidence of Your
presence. And so we ask that once again
you give us that presence that accompanies the preaching of
Your word. And we ask that, as You have
always done, that you bless your word and that you cause your
word to bless your people. We give you prayers, we give you
glory in Jesus precious name, Amen.
I'm truly, truly excited to be here to to preach the word of
God to, to wonderful people like you.
It's been a while. It's been quite a while since I
I took the restroom to preach the gospel.
So I'm excited about the opportunity more especially
because I get to preach to wonderful people like you.
You know, the Bible actually says of us, those of us here,
the Bible says that you are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation. And it says you are God's very
own special people. Think about that.
The Bible calls those of us here God's very own special people.
And so whenever I have the opportunity or any of us have
the opportunity to be here to minister to God's very own
special people, you know, it goes beyond just a task.
It becomes a privileged opportunity to get to speak to
wonderful people like you. So I'm truly excited.
I'm honored and I'm thankful to the leadership of the church for
for this privileged opportunity. Amen.
I have been asked to speak on a subject entitled The God who
calls, the God who calls. And the moment I saw the
subject, you know, it, it, it tells me that the emphasis more
than just being on the call, the emphasis is on the person behind
the call. So lots of us are here right now
and there are certain people when they call your phone right
now, you know, it elicits a different kind of joy in your
heart because you know that particular person, you know, you
hold that person in a very different esteem than you would
others. So when it says the God who
calls is referring to the person behind that call.
You know, some some years ago, I, I used to play soccer for my
university. I'm not sure when my soccer
career took me to anyways, but I used to play soccer for my
university. And whenever a major tournament
was approaching, one of the ways you would know that you've been
drafted into the team is when you're the team coach picks his
phone and gives you a call and tells you, hey, Ransford, you're
part of my team for the upcoming tournament.
If you don't receive a call, you know you're out.
So there was a moment while I waited, and while I was there, I
saw calls from my teammates. You can imagine the anger in my
in my when I was trying to pick the phone call because what I'm
expecting is to receive a phone call from my coach, giving me
the positive news to say, hey, you are part of the team and my
team mates are calling me. So I would answer the call.
There was some, you know, an appreciable level of joy, if you
like, in, in that, in picking that call.
But another moment when I saw the coach himself calling me,
you can imagine I was already dancing before picking the call
because I appreciate the person behind the call, even even, you
know, without hearing the details of the call.
I just know that with a call from him, he's got what it takes
to even take someone else out of the squad and put me in the
squad. So the person behind the call is
very, very crucial. And, and if you remember
carefully, let's let's go this way.
If you remember carefully, in the book of Genesis, the 41st
chapter and the 14 verse, the Bible says there was a man
called Joseph. I'm talking about Joseph, the
one who who had brothers who who hated him and put him in a pit
and sold him and all of that. The Bible says there was this
man called Joseph. Now Joseph was kept in prison.
While he was in prison, Genesis 4114, the Bible says, and the
king sent for Joseph. Listen to this.
Now Joseph is in prison. There are other people in the
prison. There are people who clean the
prison. There are there are fellow
inmates in there and all of that.
Now the Bible says it was not any of them that called for
Joseph. Scripture says, and the king
himself sent for Joseph. Now hear this.
When the king sent for Joseph, there is a way Joseph reacted.
There's a way Joseph responded. Scripture says that he went and
took a very good shave of himself.
He went and changed his entire clothing because he understood
the person behind the call. You and I can agree that if a
fellow inmate was calling him hey Joseph, I doubt he would
even brush his teeth. But because a king was calling
him, he understood that the person behind the core and
because a king was calling him, scripture says he went he took a
good shave, changed his clothes and went to meet the king.
So the person behind the core is, you know, relatively even
more important and crucial for us to understand beyond just
understanding what the call is. Please come with me.
Let's go to the book of Genesis, the 12th chapter.
Let's go ahead, Ria. Yeah, this is the 12th chapter
and the first verse. As we look at how Abraham
responded to the call, the Bible says the Lord had said to
Abraham, go from your country, your people and your father's
household to the land that I will show you.
Now please realize that God does not even give an indication of
where Abraham is supposed to go. Abraham has been living his life
for an appreciable number of years at A at a particular
geographical location. And here comes God telling
Abraham, I want you to move out of this place that you are most
comfortable with that you are used to.
I want you to move out of the place, but I am expecting that
God would give Abraham a specific location.
I'm taking you from here to here.
But God is silent on that. It just says come follow me to a
land that I will show you. Imagine that right after church
today, as you walk past what the chance Centre or the nest, a
random person sees you and says leave UBC, follow me to a land
that I will show you. Think about that.
So I come, somebody comes and says let's get out of here,
let's go to a land that I'm going to show you.
Now I'm trying to establish that your ability or your intention
to follow that person is first dependent on what you know about
that person. So the person behind that call
is more important than the message being given now,
irrespective of all the promises.
Let's go ahead. I'll show you something in verse
2. This is God speaking to Abraham
and he's telling Abraham, look, come, follow me.
Let's go here to a land that I will show you.
And he begins to make promises. He says I will make you into a
great nation and I will bless you.
I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.
Hold it. I like the promises you are
giving me, but who are you to warrant what it takes to give me
this instruction to follow you to a place that I don't even
know about know about. So if you see it goes on to say,
you know, I will bless them that bless you and I will curse them
that curse you. But interestingly, you know what
the Bible does not give us an indication of whether or not
what kind of relationship pre existed between Abraham and God,
between Abraham and God at this time.
The Bible does not tell us that. However, what we know is that
when you when you study the genealogy of Noah, you find out
that the descendant that the son of Noah, Shem, the descendant of
Shem is actually Abraham. So we know how God worked with
Noah, and if God had worked with Noah and a descendant of Noah is
Abraham, then it is likely that the knowledge of the God of
Israel might have passed through from generation to generation to
Abraham. So Abraham must have definitely
have, you know, a quantifiable, you know, level of knowledge of
who God is. But the degree to which his
relationship was, we have no idea what it was, whether he had
a relationship with him or not. We had no idea.
Yet when Abraham was given this instruction, look at what it
says in verse 4, verse three. He says, so Abraham went as the
Lord had told him and Lot went with him.
Now Abraham had an instruction, had a call from God.
We have no evidence of his intimate relationship with this
God. Yet Scripture says that Abraham
actually did obey. Scripture says that Abraham,
Abraham went as the Lord had told him.
Now please realize, recognize my choice of words as I say
Abraham, because at this time he had not been he had not, you
know, been given the father of many nations to become Abraham,
yet so he was Abraham. So Abraham went as the Lord had
told him. Now I want us to now understand
how was Abraham able to do this? How was now it was later on that
the the writer of the Hebrew of the book of Hebrews was exposing
some truths to us for us to understand.
Please come with me Hebrews 11 verse 8 please.
Now the Bible says here in the book of Hebrews the writer of
Hebrews does us so much good and helps us to understand how
Abraham was able to do this. Scripture says by faith.
How did Abraham do this? The Bible says by faith,
Abraham, when he was called to go to a place he would later
receive as his inheritance, he obeyed and went even though he
did not know where he was going. So how did Abraham respond?
How did he do it? Scripture says it is by faith.
You know all these, we have origin kids.
You're going to see them very soon when the church is about to
close. You see, origin kids come in
here and come make some noise here.
After church service, there was a time when I looked at my
brother, at the Baghdad brother, Sam, he had his daughter with
him. And as he held the child, he
just threw the daughter into the air, into the sky like that.
And the child was up in the sky and she was smiling.
Now up in the sky, anything can go wrong.
Anything can go wrong up in the sky.
But in the midst of being in the sky, in the midst of
uncertainty, this little girl was smiling and was happy.
Why? Because she knows that it is
impossible for the jealous hand of hand of his father, her
father, to let her go and fall down.
No, she knows that my dad loves me so much.
Whatever it will take him to ensure that I don't fall down,
he would do it to prevent me from falling down.
And the scripture says that if even you being evil parents know
how to give good gifts to your children, that when they ask you
for fish, you don't give them a snake.
That's when they ask you to catch them while they are in the
sky. You don't let them fall down.
He says, how much more your heavenly Father?
And so faith is that moment where you are like, I don't know
what is going to happen, but I trust the person behind the
call. I don't know what will happen
next from here, but I just I simply trust the person behind
the call. Were you not here a few weeks
ago when we had visitors from from the 24/7 prayer when they
came here and they were teaching US1 profound statement that came
out. The man preaching said he said,
God, the answer is yes. Now what's the question?
So, so God, listen to this God, I'm I'm here with you.
My answer is yes before you even ask the question.
I understand the person behind that question, and for that
matter, I already answered yes, because I know your thoughts for
me are good and not evil. People of God hear this.
Hear this in this Christian journey of ours, in this
Christian journey of ours, it is impossible to please God without
faith. I'll say that again, our
ultimate desire as Christians is to please God, but it is
impossible to please God without faith.
Now I'm, I'm not making this up, church, I'm not Hebrews 11 verse
6, please. The Bible says, and without
faith it is impossible to please God.
Clearly stated in Scripture that without faith it is impossible
at all to please God because anyone who comes to the Father
must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek Him. So this is the approach that
Abraham took. And you see what let me tell you
this. There is a limitation just by
the fact that we are humans. Being a human in itself comes
with a number of limitations that God does not have.
The first one is this. The Bible says for God is not a
man that he should lie. So as man there is a limitation
to be able to lie. As a human, there's a limitation
to be able to lie. But the Bible says for God is
not a man to lie. That means his, his divine, if
you like programming is not even wired to be able to lie.
Now, another thing that is a limitation for us as humans is
that we don't have the ability to see what is happening even in
the next minute. We have no idea, but God is an
all knowing God that knows what will happen in the next 10
years. But we as humans, we are limited
by our ability to see what will happen even in the next minute.
Look, recently there was a tragedy that happened in Ghana.
There were, I'm from Ghana by the way, So there were a number
of political authorities, government authorities that were
going for an event from one part of the region to another part of
the region. And eight of them, before they
boarded the helicopter, there was one of the ministers.
He stood outside and gave a wave and told them and told the
people standing there Mekwaba, which means I'm going and I'll
be right back. Can you believe that?
All eight of them crashed in the plane they burnt to ashes.
Not even one of them came back just recently.
My friends from Ghana can can relate to this, can understand.
But when this man was about to leave, there are video evidences
of him talking to people and saying I'm going, I'll be right
back. Because as humans there is a
limitation. We have no idea to see what is
happening tomorrow. We have no idea to see what is
happening in the next 10 years, but this is the reason why we
are told to trust in God, the one who has the ability to see
beyond tomorrow. So the Bible says Proverbs 3
verse 5 please. Proverbs 3 verse 5 to 6, it says
trust in the Lord with all your heart and it says lean not on
your own understanding. So as much as we are
intellectuals, you know, wonderful, excellent students
here, you know, having great grades and doing it all
academically and all of that, the Bible says that lean not on
your own understanding. And I'll hear this.
He says in all your ways, not some of your ways.
Some of us will think that, oh, you know, I let God handle my
academic path when it comes to my relationship path and who I
get married to and all of that. I can handle it on my I don't, I
don't need God. The Bible says in all your ways
acknowledge Him and he will direct your path.
And so banking our hopes fully on God is what will take us
through to the next stage because we have no idea to see
what is happening tomorrow. Even right from here.
We have no idea what will happen in the next minute.
You never know. By tomorrow I can become a
professional soccer player and I'll be we're making some good
money. But you see, there are some
characteristics that typify the call of God, and I want us to
walk through that. There are some characteristics
that typify the call of God. The first thing is that God does
not consult our past to call us. God does not consult our past to
call us. See, as Christians, it is
sometimes, indeed most times very common for us to think
that, you know, God still remembers the sin or the evil
thing that I did few months ago, 10 years ago or few days ago.
But I tell you what, even with Abraham whom we are discussing,
did you know that Abraham was even born in a polytheistic
culture? A polytheistic culture is a
culture where, you know, many people there are serving more
than one God. They don't believe in serving
just one God. Remember in the, in, in the, in
the Old Testament dispensation, the Bible, the Bible has told
the people of Israel, only the God of Israel shall you serve.
But Abraham grew up in a, in a polytheistic culture where they
don't believe in just serving one God.
As a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, in the book of Joshua,
we are told that Abraham's father was an idol worshipper,
yet God is looking for someone to give him his call.
He says it's Abraham. I want Paul.
I'm talking about Saul who became Paul.
Paul was going about, you know, persecuting Christians, the
people of God. God is looking for someone to
spread the gospel. He says, I need that guy.
This God we serve, you know, is a specialist in making the most
out of nothing. This God we serve is a
specialist in using the most unlikely people to do what he
wants to do. So when God wants to call us
God, God does not. As a matter of fact, in the book
of Micah, the Bible says that for He has cast our sins into
the depth of the ocean. Think about this.
When I when I take something that belongs to you and I throw
it in the depth of the ocean, and I ask you to go find it for
me, I wish you all the best in finding it.
The Bible says that He has cast our sins into the depth of the
ocean. That means it's so far away from
Him He's not even going back to remember it before He decides
whether to call you or not to call you.
So Abram from a polytheistic culture, born to an idol
worshiper, yet God chose him. And so God does not consult our
past to call us. The next thing is that God calls
us to bring us into his light. God calls us to bring us into
his light. If God is calling us and he's
going to leave us in isolation, then the call in itself was
needless because the whole in the, in the, in the days of the
Old Testament when the people of Israel were in captivity.
Now God's instruction to Pharaoh was very clear.
He said Pharaoh let my people go, but that statement was not a
statement in isolation. He said, let my people go for a
purpose that they may worship me.
So there's a reason why God calls us from from one place to
the other. In the book of Colossians, it
says that you have been translated from the Kingdom of
darkness into the Kingdom of his own dear son.
But when God calls us, God calls us to bring us into light and
not just to leave us in isolation.
First Peter, please. First Peter chapter 2, verse 9,
the Bible says, but you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession.
Remember that now that you may declare the praises of him who
called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
So God calls us out of a place. Now, if if, if somebody calls
you and says we are going to a destination and does not take
you to any destination at all, then the call in itself was
needless. But the Bible says he called us
out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Please come. Let's go to the next points
there. Yeah.
God calls us into relationship with him.
Now, for those of you, can I drag this?
OK. For those of you who are here
for the first time, for those of you who this is your first time
here, we welcome you. Thank you for coming here.
Let me just give you a heads up that from next week when you
start hearing Pastor Craig preach one particular thing, you
are very, I can assure you on that you're very likely to hear
from him from now to the end of the year and even beyond is this
thing. Watch me as I go to the board.
Now, if you see Pastor Craig walking to the board like this,
you're very much sure he's going to do this.
He's going to take a chalk and start saying that we are created
as humans for relationships and he will do this and say we are
created for relationship with God, with others, with self.
Not sure if I got it right Pastor Craig, but my drawing is
not the best. And then he does something here
and says you know what, this is right.
Say it's staff of earth. So Pastor Craig says that we are
created for relationships and we are created for relationship
with God, with others, with ourselves, and with staff of the
earth. People of God hear this.
This God we serve is a relational God.
He does not he, He has not called us or He does not call us
again to stand in isolation. He calls us to have a
relationship with us. Listen to this.
The end point of every communication is response.
So for instance, in the Book of Revelation, Revelation the 3rd
chapter, I don't think you have that one.
Revelation, the 3rd chapter and the 20th verse, the Bible says
behold, I stand at the door and I knock.
So that knock is representative of God's call.
Behold, I stand at the door and I knock and he says, if anyone
hears and response, OK, because the endpoint of the
communication must be a response.
If anyone hears and responds by opening the door, the Bible says
then I will come in and dine with him as he dines with me.
So what God is interested in is not just about, you know,
calling just because there's fun in, in, in calling.
But God calls because he wants to build a relationship with us.
In the book of Matthew, the 11th chapter, the 28th verse, the
Bible says come unto me all those that are heavy laden and I
will give you rest. Now God's God is interested in
what is happening in our lives, so He wants to relationally give
us rest and so God calls us into relationship with him.
Let's move on please. Now God calls us the point.
I think that's the last point. It says God calls us into
purpose in the future. God calls us into a purpose and
a future. Jeremiah chapter one verse 5.
Please church, please hear this. The Bible says before I formed
you. Jeremiah one verse 5 Before I
formed you in the womb, I knew you before you were born.
I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to
the nations before I formed you in the womb.
Now, church, please, please pay attention to this.
Listen to this. Recently, a few months ago,
there's a good friend of mine here who just gave birth to a
beautiful baby girl. Now I think she's here.
Maybe she's outside. Yeah, there's a good friend of
mine who just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.
Few months before giving birth, I was having a conversation with
her outside and she was pregnant and she said to me that we went
to do some. They said they went to do
something in the similitude of of of an ultrasound they call
it. And they could see the face of
the baby and right from the womb they could tell that the nose
looks like the dad, the eyes looks like that person in the
womb. But hear this, do you know that
nine months before they did that ultrasound, they had no idea
what the child was like? Nine months before, they had no
idea what even the child's hair would look like.
But the Bible says nine months prior to this, God says before I
even formed you in the womb, he says I knew you.
So the child is now born and you have a name for the child.
But Scripture says that before that child was even in the womb,
before you could now do an ultrasound to see the eye of the
baby and the nose of the baby. The Bible says, God said I knew
you. And that was not just it.
I set you apart. I appointed you, I gave you.
There was a purpose for you even before your parents knew you at
all in the first place. And so when God calls us, God
calls us because he has a purpose for us.
And it is very, very easy sometimes, you know, when you
come, you know, as as you know, most of you here being new
students here, sometimes it is very easy to lose sight of the
fact that God indeed has a purpose for you.
Because when all is said and done, when when things are
going, you know, haywire and you have school problems and all of
that, you know, the mere remembrance that God indeed has
a purpose for you will kick you back and let you start running
again. Because God indeed has a purpose
for us. Now when God was trying to even
go deeper into what it means to show that he has a purpose and a
future for us. Look at what it says Jeremiah 29
verse 11. Scripture says, for I know the
plans that I have for you, that this is God speaking.
He says, for I know the plans that I have for you declares the
Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope in the future. Oh, I love this.
This is God talking and you know, anytime you read the
scripture and you see when God talks and he there are specific
indications saying that for instance, I am the God that
heals you, drawing emphasis for you to understand the person,
the person behind who is talking.
He says I am the God that heals you.
I am the God that gives the power to make wealth here.
He says for I know the plans for you declares the Lord.
I, the Lord have said it to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future people of God.
The God who calls us has a purpose for all of us.
The God who has called you has a plan for you and his thoughts
and plans for you are not of evil ones, but they are good.
As I end where? Please?
Where are my 5 people? Josh, where are the five people?
Yes, Michael, come, all of you. Come.
Let me do this quick illustration and then I can end
my sermon. So there are five people?
Yes, in front here, one aside from each other.
Who is the tallest amongst you? It's difficult to tell.
OK, OK. You, you go there.
Go to the other side, the far end.
Good. And then you come here for me.
Please. Mike, it goes exactly.
Space out a little for me. No, you go.
Go all the way to the communion side.
You stand in the middle here for me.
Stand here for me. Perfect.
Now Now I want. You to imagine.
That these five people, nice people, by the way, a clap for
them. So they're fully energized.
OK. Thank you.
I want.
You to imagine that these five people represent the five days
of the week. So Monday.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday now.
Now they're clapping already. They're clapping already.
Why? What is the most favorite day of
every one of us? Now that's not true.
I've never heard anyone. Say thank God it's Monday.
But I hear everyone say thank God it's Friday.
So the ultimate, the ultimate, you know, dream and wish of
every one of us is that we only get to Friday.
Interestingly, I don't even hear Christian saying thank God it's
Sunday. Is that not interesting?
But thank God it's Friday because there's always a busy
week and you want to make sure that you arrive at the Friday.
Now watch this. The ultimate dream, the ultimate
desire is to get to this place. OK, Please come with me.
Romans chapter 8, verse 29 to 30.
Just start from the beginning, please.
Romans 829, Does it come all together?
OK, watch this now please look at this now.
The ultimate desire is to get to Friday, OK, Scripture says here
look at the Scripture carefully. He says for the people whom God
for new. So this my brother here
represents God for knowing us. OK, Scripture says for the
people whom God for new. Remember we talked about
Jeremiah. He says I knew you even in your
before you came into your mother's womb.
He says for the people whom God for new.
What did he do? He also predestined my Tuesday
He also predestined So it starts from here.
The ultimate dream is to get to that point and he says for the
people whom got for new remember we are all caught by God.
Can you we are all known by God. Can you look at somebody and
tell the person God knows me good.
So now if God knows you, watch this.
If God knows you, the Bible says for the people whom got for new.
What did he do? He also predestined to be.
Predestined means that. He pre planned an agenda and a
purpose for you so. He says for.
The people whom got for knew He also predestined.
Now God knows us as we have established.
Now we know by the scripture that because He knows us, He has
predestined us. Now Scripture says that for the
people that He predestined, what did He do?
He also called. So it starts by.
Him knowing us even before we got into the womb of our mothers
and then he predestined us. And then he gets to the point
where he called us. Now the call does not end there
because there's there is a point he wants to take us to Now He
says that he also called the people that he predestined now
for them that he called scripture says he justified.
You are justified, my brother. In Jesus name scripture says for
them who he he called he also justified and remember I talked
about the book of Micah where the Bible says that God has put
our our sins into the depth of the oceans.
You are justified and you are set free.
So Scripture says starting from the point where you are
foreknown, God foreknows us all the way to predestination to the
point where we are called. He says that those people he
also justified now after. He had justified.
Them thank God it's Friday. The Bible says in the end he
also glorified. So so.
When God told us in the book of Jeremiah that he knew us and we
have become as we have established to understand that
he predestined us and as we have known that God has called us
people of God. The end is not to leave us in
isolation and end here. He says for those people,
including you and I here today, I'm going to justify you and in
the end, I'm going to glorify you.
These guys are so happy. They want to stand here forever.
But please take your seats. The Lord bless you.
Thank you. Please clap for them.
Thank you. The Lord bless you.
Thank you so very much.
So people of God, I want to end this way.
In the midst of the twists. And terms in the.
Midst of the ups. And downs let.
Us not lose sight. That this God that we serve the.
One who? Who knew us even before we were
clots of blood in our mother's womb?
The one who has predestined us, The one who has called us, the
one who has justified us. I want to assure you by the word
of Scripture that this God is too careful not to glorify you.
He will glorify you to his glory.
The Lord bless you. Please put your hands together
as I end my sermon. The Lord bless you.
Let's. Pray.
Let's pray together. Worship team, you can come.
Father, thank you. So very much because you are a
good God. Thank you for the privilege to
be justified and glorified of you.
Thank You that for us, even us. You knew us before we were clots
of blood in our mother's wombs. Thank you that for us, even us.
You have called us by Your name and we do not take it for
granted. We ask that you bring unto us
remembrance, even when. It looks difficult.
Guide us through and we shall be careful to return the glory to
you and to you alone. We give you praise, we give you
glory in Jesus precious name, Amen.