GOD IS CALLING!

 

GOD IS CALLING!

Why does God call us? The Bible teaches us that when God needs something to be done in earth, He will call a person, or a community or sometimes the whole world.

Let’s begin today’s article by remembering the story of the burning bush. This is a well-known story. The burning bush was designed by God to get Moses' attention. And, it did!

MOSES AND THE BURNING BUSH
The burning bush story is given in Exodus 3:2-4 (KJV, emphasis mine):

        2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, AND THE BUSH WAS NOT CONSUMED.

        3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

        4 AND WHEN THE LORD SAW THAT HE HAD TURNED ASIDE TO SEE, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

The burning bush was the beginning of this story. The Israelites returning to their promised land was the end of this story. In between the beginning and the end of this story was Moses! God called Moses in order to achieve a great thing.

Have you ever had a burning bush moment with God? When you think back on your life, can you identify any moments when you saw something, heard something or experienced something that was so extraordinary you could not explain it in the natural realm?

That was God getting your attention! That was God speaking to you! When you get your Moses' moment, this is the opportunity to tell God- "Here am I".

        § Use me to be a blessing to others!

        § Use me to be a comfort to others!

        § Use me to lead others in godly righteousness!

Sometimes this extraordinary ‘burning bush’ moment will be something that only you will see, hear or experience. Others will not experience it! God gives believers special assignments. This special assignment will change you and it will make those closest to you wonder- what happened? In a blink of an eye, God will have transformed you! You will have a deep sense of mission and purpose.

DAVID AND GOLIATH
Sometimes the extraordinary occurrence will be something that a whole community will see, hear or experience. Just think back to the time when David challenged Goliath. All the armies of Israel and all the armies of Philistine watched a teenage boy challenge Goliath, the mighty warrior! In this situation, God needed the whole nation of Israel to be transformed and to gain courage. Equally, God wanted all the armies of Philistine to become cowardly and fearful. And so, both armies witnessed the miracle of David killing Goliath! This story is told in I Samuel 17 (KJV, some excerpts of this chapter are provided below, emphasis mine).

17:1-4

        1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.

        2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.

        3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.

        4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

17:8-11

        8 And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

        9 If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.

        10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

        11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

17:29-33

        29 And David said, What have I now done? IS THERE NOT A CAUSE?

        30 And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.

        31 And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.

        32 And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

        33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

17:36-37

        36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, SEEING HE HATH DEFIED THE ARMIES OF THE LIVING GOD.

        37 David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.

17:42-51

        42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.

        43 And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

        44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

        45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: BUT I COME TO THEE IN THE NAME OF THE LORD OF HOSTS, the God of the armies of Israel, WHO THOU HAST DEFIED.

        46 This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; THAT ALL THE EARTH MAY KNOW THAT THERE IS A GOD in Israel.

        47 And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.

        48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

        49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

        50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

        51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

WHEN THE WHOLE WORLD IS A WITNESS
Sometimes the extraordinary occurrence is something that the whole world sees, hears or experiences. Trust me, this doesn’t happen very often! When America dropped atomic bombs in Japan, it captured the world’s attention and the world swore, never again!

When Hitler killed six million Jews in the Holocaust, it captured the world’s attention and the world swore, never again!

Today, the whole world is watching the horrors that are taking place in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s invasion. This war in Ukraine is adversely affecting the global economy, it is causing global food insecurity and it is bringing the world to the brink of a nuclear war. With this war, God has demanded and has received the attention of the whole world!

For humanity’s sake, for the sake of peace- God is calling all of us at this moment! God is trying to get our attention so that we can help to put an end to this tragedy. Each of us can do something! But remember, if we choose not to act for peace, then the prophecy contained in Christ’s warning awaits us (see Matthew’s 24:21-22, KJV, emphasis mine).

        21 FOR THEN SHALL BE GREAT TRIBULATION, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

        22 And except those days should be shortened, there should NO FLESH BE SAVED: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

THEREFORE, I BEG YOU TO PRAY FOR PEACE!

*****

‘HARVEST TIME Prophecies’ is the blog post site of TNG Academy. Our blog post site gets its name from Matthew 13:30- the separation of wheat and tares that occurs at harvest time (i.e. the endtimes). Remember, the ‘wheat’ symbolises the things of God and the ‘tares’ symbolise the things of the devil.

The purpose of this blog is threefold.

1. Some of the posts are written to help the reader develop a deeper understanding of the theology of Christ’s core message- i.e. the ‘gospel of the kingdom’.

2. Some of the posts are written for the reader’s personal discipleship journey. We need to understand what God expects from us. After all, all believers should be on a journey of ‘becoming’ our best selves, capable of impacting and changing the world!

3. Finally, some of the posts are written to answer this question:

    What would our faith look like today IF we had fully embraced Christ’s doctrines, as recorded by His Apostles, and rejected the doctrines of Paul and the other false apostles?

If we are sincere about our desire to restore Christianity to its roots, i.e. a return to Christ’s original message, then we must start by admitting that ‘while men slept’ (Matthew 13:25) the enemy planted false teachings (tares) into the New Testament!

Visit our website- WWW.TNGACADEMY.ORG, to see our Bible study books. Which books would I recommend for you to read first? Start with these three-

• WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
• MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN!
• THE APOSTOLIC SCRIPTURES.