God is Still Calling

1 Samuel 3:4 – “That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.”

The call of the boy, Samuel, who would one day be a great prophet on the pages of Holy Writ has always personally fascinated me. In a day that was void of discernment and very despicable (verses 3 & 13), God still tapped on the shoulder of a young lad, and said, “I want you to be my special mouthpiece!”. In this very hour, it doesn’t take a clairvoyant to realize that a drift in Fundamentalism, a decay in our Churches, and a discontentment among Believers has settled in all across our land. But take heart, my dear Brother, and my dear Sister, GOD IS STILL CALLING! Recently in a “Faith of Our Fathers” conference at the Bible  Baptist Church Hammond, IN and in a “Passing The Mantle” conference at the Commonwealth Baptist College Lexington, KY (Both conferences in the same week). I watched as 14 men, young men, and boys answered the divine call to preach! Seven in each of the closing services of those tremendous conferences! In both the church and the college, it was a climate that was cooperative to a call. By the way, you can’t raise tomatoes in a spiritual hothouse that has the same temperature as a walk-in deep freezer. Dr. Tom Malone, Sr., said, in my hearing, once, “Most churches aren’t conducive for God calling men to preach!” To watch those men surrender was enough to bring a tear to the eye of the most callused Believer’s heart!

Here are three Bible facts about God’s call, seen from Samuel’s life, which is true of every Biblical call (All in 1 Samuel chapter 3)

Let’s notice it:

I. it is personal.
(verse 4)

God is specific when selecting someone for the ministry. While He will save anyone (Rom 10:13), He just doesn’t sponsor everyone for the ministry. But rest assured, A DIVINE CALL always means A DIVINE CONDITIONING (1 Thes 5:34). What a blessing to know, God doesn’t pick those who He wants on His spiritual Baseball team, for them to sit on the bench, but to be in the “batting order”! It is personal!

II. it is persistent.

(verse 8)

God will stay on “the trail” of those whom He wants for special service. Ask Brother Jonah for his personal testimony on this same truth (Jonah 1:17). The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have the reputation, “THE MOUNTIE ALWAYS GETS HIS MAN!” I don’t know about that, but I do know, from first hand experience, GOD ALWAYS GETS HIS MAN, and in 1979, at 17 years of age, He got me ( Rom 11:29). It is persistent!

III. it is powerful.

(verses 19 and 29)

God just doesn’t call a man to preach, but what He puts His power on that same man, to use him in a considerable way. What a blessing it is to know that no matter the assignment, there’s the ASSISTANCE that we need for that same assignment (Ezk 37:1). To sense Heaven’s touch in preaching, praying and personal soul winning is something that’s totally OUT OF THIS WORLD! It is powerful!

Someone young man or even an older man, may be reading these lines who needs to raise the “white flag” of their will, and surrender, like those 14 men recently did in Hammond and in Lexington! God is still calling,… but the pressing question of the hour remains,…ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER HIS CALL TODAY?

ministrysharing.com