August 12, 2026 • 60 mins
The Porch explores the biblical concept of "calling," emphasizing that God's call is an invitation to belong to Him, to serve Him, and to live according to His purpose, no matter the cost.
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hello, Welcome to the Porch on Firefall Talk Radio. I'm
Richard Grund. This is where you will find the uncompromised
red letter basics of the Word of God. We focus
on the Book of Acts Church, the purest, most effective
form of the Church, to see how they serve the Lord.
(00:43):
When we do that, we find the Church Lord intended,
not the one Man created. The Porch is a non denominational,
full gospel approach to the Bible. It's based on the
examples from the Book of Acts Church, and it aims
to restore the pre stood of the believer while regaining
the world shaking influence that the early Church had. The
(01:06):
Church age isn't over. The Upper Room experience is as
much for today as it was on the day of Pentecost.
It's yours if you want it. We offer you the
Word as the Apostles would have to the Jewish and
gentile believers of their day, using both the Yeshua and Jesus.
When speaking of the Lord. We prefer the term Messiah
(01:28):
rather than Christ, as it more accurately reflects how he
was referred to by those who knew him. Additionally, we
will provide you definitions in Hebrew Greek and Aramic when needed.
Getting back to basics, it isn't just our motto, it's
a mandate from the Lord. Links to all of our
social media and streaming sites can be found on the
(01:50):
main page at Firefall talk radio dot com. Subscribe to
us wherever you listen so that you know a new
content is hosted. If you'd like to support us, go
to the bottom of that main page at Firefall talk
radio dot com and there are multiple ways that you
can support us, including a po box. If you'd like
(02:13):
to mail your blessing. Please do not hesitate to contact
us if you need additional information. Remember, we care about you.
We appreciate your support, your encouragement, and your prayers. Thank
you for being a part of the porch community. Contact
us if you need prayer. We have people that would
(02:35):
like to pray for you. All you have to do
is let us know your needs.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
We start out always by going into His presence with
praise and thanksgiving. Well, I praise Him and thank Him
for my salvation. Otherwise I have nothing and I am nothing.
I don't have my home, my wife, my family, sons,
daughter in laws, grandchildren, furry kids. I don't have any
I have no hope, but because of Him I have
(03:05):
plenty of hope, a blessed hope. I praise Him for
his provision and protection for the dreams and the visions
as we live our Joel to twenty eight. I praise
him for the availability of his divine health and healing,
for his divine abiding favor. There is no other favor
(03:26):
we should want. I praise him for the continuing revelation
of the Holy Spirit to guide us in the days
that we're living in, and for making me a new
creation and allowing me to live in these prophetic times.
Let's pray. We start out by praying for the peace
of Jerusalem. Psalm one twenty two, verses six to eight.
(03:48):
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who
love you. Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces.
For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will
now say, be within you. I pray for Israel. I
pray for America. I pray for our leadership. I pray
that we be protected from our enemies, that God would
(04:10):
destroy his enemies. I pray that He would be the
shield about us, the glory and the lifter of our head.
We pray for the fatherless, the widows, the persecuted, in
the martyr, the innocence, and those who are victims of injustice.
We pray for divine homeless health and healing, and me,
(04:30):
my wife, my family, and each and every one of
you getting back to our divine design healing. If you're
sick with it, whatever and heart, mind, body, soul, is spirit,
be healed, and you shew His name. We pray for protection,
his angelic covering keeping us hidden and guarded from the enemy.
(04:54):
Pray for the fire of the Holy Spirit to inspire
us to wake up to answer the call to action.
And those that have been blessed, would be a blessing
so that we can move against the schemes of the fallen,
confronting the enemy with confidence, purpose and power because we
know the King is coming. That Psalm ninety one protection
(05:17):
that we covered a couple of weeks ago, Let it
be available and surround us and envelop us in this
supernaturally dangerous time we're living it. I pray verification and
encouragement each and every one of you, that you would
stand strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might, that you would rise up for the Kingdom
(05:39):
of God, setting the captives free, destroying the works of
the enemy. And finally we pray for kingdom finances to
do all the things that we just prayed in Jesus' name. So, Father, Abbah, Papa, Daddy,
thank you. Thank you for loving us when we were unlovable.
Thank you for sending you sure to die for us,
(06:01):
to pay our debts so that we could come home.
Thank you Lord for the empty cross, the empty tomb,
the upper room, all these things you did for us,
your church. And then you sent back the Roa kak Kadesh,
the Holy Spirit to be with us and Goddess and
guide us, to teach us and remind us. So, Holy Spirit,
(06:25):
we ask you to do all those things. We ask
you to do what needs to be done this day
on the porch, so that this word would go forth
and his will would be accomplished. And I pray all
these things in Jesus' name. And if you agree with me,
say amen.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
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Speaker 1 (07:22):
All right, get those bibles open, let's get ready here.
Ephesians four, starting verse one. I. Therefore, the prison of
the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling
with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness,
with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring
(07:43):
to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond
of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just
as you were called into, one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who was above all and through all, and
in you all. But to each one of us grace
(08:06):
was given according to the measure of Messiah's gift. Therefore,
he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity
captive and gave gifts to men. That's what we're talking about,
talking about the calling. We hear it again in second
Thessalonians one eleven. Therefore, we also pray always for you
(08:30):
that our God would count you worthy of this calling
and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and
the work of faith with power, Faith with power. That's
what it's going to take to fulfill the calling. Messiah's
people are those whom he has called and are rightly
(08:51):
called by his name Romans eight twenty eight. And we
know that all things work together good to those who
love God, to those who are the called according to
his purpose.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
The called that's us. We have stood up.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
We have said yes, Lord, and we know that we
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
his own, special people that proclaim the praises of Him
who has called us out of darkness and into his
(09:32):
marvelous light First Peter two nine. That's what it is.
He called us out of darkness, like a shepherd calling
his sheep. Some of us wandered back, some of us
ran back. But the calling changes us into his children
(09:59):
First John three to one. Behold what manner of love
the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be
called children of God. Therefore the world does not know
us because it did not know him. And that's what
happens when you are called, You suddenly become an adversary
(10:24):
to the world. Mark thirteen thirteen. Read letters as Sue
was speaking, and you will be hated by all for
my name's sake. But he who endures to the end,
shall be saved. No sugar coating it there. This isn't
you know, a community get together. This isn't a country club.
(10:49):
This is an adversarial relationship with the world, and therefore
the enemy. John fifteen, verses eighteen and nineteen. If if
the world hates you, you know that it hated me
before it hated you. If you were of the world,
would the world would love its own? Yet, because you
(11:11):
are not of the world. But I chose you out
of the world. Therefore the world hates you. John seventeen,
verses nine through sixteen, him speaking to the Father, I
pray for them, meaning his disciples. I do not pray
for the world, but for those whom you've given me,
(11:32):
for they are yours, and all mine are yours, and
yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. Now
I am no longer in the world, but these are
in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father.
Keep through your name those whom you've given me, that
they may be one as we are. Well I was
(11:54):
with them in the world. I kept them in your name.
Those whom you gave me I have kept. And none
of them is lost except the son of tradition which
we know as judas that the scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I come to you, and these things I
speak in the world, that they may have my joy
(12:14):
fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and
the world has hated them because they are not of
the world, just as I am not of the world.
I do not pray that you should take them out
of the world, but that you should keep them from
the evil one. They are not of the world, just
(12:35):
as I am not of the world. And later on
he prays for those that would come after. So very
clearly we're not of this world. And according to Romans
one point thirty, the people of those times will be
haters of God, and we're in those times. The Topical
(12:57):
Encyclopedia says the term God haters refers to individuals who
exhibit a profound disdain or hostility toward God. This concept
is addressed in various passages of the Bible, where such
individuals are often depicted as rejecting God's authority, commandments, and love.
(13:23):
You know what's interesting about that many of those individuals
rejecting his authority, his commandments, and his love cling to
be believers. They sit in a building somewhere claiming to
be a part of the church. That's what the enemy
has done. The enemy has infiltrated and is corrupting us
(13:49):
from the inside out. That's why messages like these from
the Lord, though they may seem harsh, are necessary to
keep us awake, to keep us conscious of the words.
What the Word says to us. What the Lord said
to us, He didn't say was going to be easy.
(14:10):
He said, hey, they're going to hate you the way
they hated me. And we know what they did. They
killed him. Oh boy, did they make a mistake when
they did that, because then he rose from the dead
and became King of kings and Lord of lords. But
if you look at that section of Romans, chapter one,
(14:33):
I'll start with verse twenty eight. It's the New Living translation.
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned
them to their foolish thinking and let them do things
that should never be done. You ever wonder why these
things happen. He's letting them do it verse twenty nine.
Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception,
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malicious behavior and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud,
and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they
disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises,
(15:24):
are heartless and have no mercy. They know God's justice
requires that those who do these things deserve to die,
yet they do them anyway worse, Yet they encourage others
to do them too. If that's not a depiction of
this time, and I'm sure everybody has said that in
(15:46):
their time, But we're living in a very debased, diabolical
society where they keep inventing more and more ways to sin. Hey,
we don't just want to kill the baby in the womb.
We want to kill it in the womb when it's
ready to be born and full term and could live
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on its own. This passage highlights for us the moral
and spiritual decline that comes from rejecting God. So God
haters or a vice, it's a depth of rebellion against
divine authority. That's the world. You've been called in to
(16:30):
serve the Lord. It's never going to be easy. What
are you going to say? What did Isaiah say in
Chapter six? Verse eight. And I heard the voice of
the Lord saying, whom shall I send? Who will go
for us? And then I said, here, I am send me.
(16:55):
I remember saying that early on in my walk, early
on in the ministry and the things that I was doing.
Did I understand what I was saying? No, but my
heart did. Here I am send me. But I'm going
to tell you it won't be easy. But we are
(17:15):
short and we know that God, being a partner in
our labor, all things work together and are fitted into
a plan for good to those and for those who
love God and are called to his design and his purpose.
(17:35):
So what's his purpose for you? Do you know? What
does the Spirit want you to do? He'll show you
if you let him. He'll show you if you listen.
He'll show you if you do it with clear, unbiased
eyes instead of saying, I'm looking for this specific choice
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and I'm not going to hear anything else. And from
my experience, usually what he has you to do will
come from where you came out of darkness. It will
start there, it will build from there. You will be
able to minister to those like you because you will
(18:22):
have compassion and understanding for them and their plight. The
Dictionary of Bible Themes says calling is God's summoning of
individuals and people to himself so that they will belong
to him and serve him in this world. The calling
(18:44):
of a believer may involve a specific place, a task,
or a vocation in life. In the Greek, it's a
noun clessis the origin, the nature, the destiny, which are
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heavenly in nature, the idea of an invitation being applied.
It's used especially of God's invitation to man to accept
the benefits of salvation Romans eleven, twenty nine. The amplified
version for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. He
(19:28):
never withdraws them once they are given, and he doesn't
change his mind about those to whom he gives his
grace or to whom he sends his call. Once he
calls you, it's done. Now. You may wander around, you
may do all the things to delay it, but he's
(19:50):
not going to withdraw it. As long as you belong
to him. He knows what he wants you to do.
Four starting verse four. That's the amplified There is one
body of believers and one spirit, just as you were
called to one hope, when called the salvation, one Lord,
(20:13):
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all,
who is sovereign overall and working through all, and living
in all. I want to circle back to that, to
the amplified, so that we could look at what that
is saying, because if you're going to answer the calling,
(20:33):
you need to understand the parameters from within that you
will work. One body. That's the church. It's not a building,
it's a people, one spirit, the Holy Spirit, one hope,
the calling of a believer.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
One Lord.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
I don't I just Shua homosiak Lord Jesus, the Messiah,
one faith, the Gospel. That's where your faith comes from.
Your faith comes from him, but it comes from within
the Gospel, one baptism. We've all been baptized into the
body of Messiah and one God, who is abba Father
(21:23):
of all. That's the parameters from within which you work.
And the dysfunction comes when organizations create something other than
that One Corinthians twelve thirteen. For by one spirit, we
were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek,
(21:48):
whether slaves or free, all have been made to drink
into one spirit. We are united by baptism. Noticed there
in speaking to the church and Korn, who are primarily Greek.
The first people he mentions are the Jews, the Messianic
believers who like him have accepted Yeshoe as Messiah. We
(22:11):
can't separate from that. We can't say those are the Jews,
and these are us. They're not a part of the church.
Oh yes they are. They are the foundation of the Church.
We are baptized into one body, into one hope of
our calling, a calling to salvation, a service to God.
(22:33):
Home and Bible Dictionary takes a little further says the
call or calling is a term used of one being
called by God to salvation and to service. The New
Testament uses the concept of call in relation to one's
station in life and a calling to what, it says
(22:53):
Christian's service. Yashue and the Apostles appeared to distinct Wish
between two types of call, an external call from the
Gospel and an internal call from the Holy Spirit. Is
this resonating yet? Are you hearing it? Are you grasping it?
(23:15):
Is it challenging what you've been taught before about a calling?
You can have a calling and use it within a
particular fellowship or a congregation. But your call us to
the church at large. Your call is to the Lord
Colossians two twelve. We've been buried with him in baptism,
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in which you are also raised with him through faith
in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
If you don't believe God raised him from the dead,
then you believe in a different Jesus. You don't believe
in the same Jesus. Dietrich Bonhaffer said, when Christ calls
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a man, he bids him to come and die. When
you're called, your plans, your desires are replaced by his.
All of your self interest dies, And someone say, well,
how horrible. No, that's great, because the ones He's going
to give you are so much better than anything you
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could have imagined. And don't be surprised if some of
what you wanted is in there. Most people associate the
word calling with invitation, like the apostle. Paul says he
was called or invited by God to be an apostle
(24:41):
Romans Paul, a bondservant of Jesus the Messiah, called to
be an apostle separated to the Gospel of God. Right there.
He knows what he's been separated to he knows what
he's been called to do. First Corinthians one to one,
Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus the Messiah
through the w God. So in regard to salvation, the
(25:05):
word call is used in two distinct ways. In the
parable of the marriage feast that Matthew twenty two, in
verse fourteen, it says, for many are called, but few
are chosen. So there are going to be a lot
of people invited, but very few will be chosen. Here
(25:29):
the Lord indicates that the gospel call is intended to
go out far and wide, calling men and women everywhere
to repent of sin and trust in Messiah for salvation.
But not everyone will heed that external or gospel call.
I know so many people from within the denomination that
(25:50):
I grew up in who don't understand any of us.
And when you try to clarify for them, to tell
them the bigger and better picture, they don't want to
hear it. They don't want to heed that call. They've
been called into a religion and you're trying to get
them to come into a relationship. The Bible attributes the
(26:10):
conversion of the sinner to an internal call affected by God.
We know that all things work together for good. I'm
going to read you the entire section of Romans eight
twenty eight through thirty. And we know that all things
work together for good to those who love God and
to those who are the called according to His purpose,
(26:32):
for whom he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be
the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined,
these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified,
and whom he justified these he also glorified. What brethren is.
(26:59):
Paul refirmed too to the Church in Rome. In that case,
he's talking about the Jews, because the replacement theology that
infected the church began way way back then. In the
Church in Rome. Paul was trying to get them to
see the bigger picture, trying to get them to see
(27:21):
that this kind of call will be issued to all
who God is predestined to salvation. And then this passage
he speaks with certainty as to give the impression that
such an internal call cannot fail to achieve its purpose.
And he makes that very clear. The same thing Peter
(27:43):
was referring to on the day of Pentecost in Joel
two thirty two. And it shall come to pass that
whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance,
as the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the
Lord calls Acts two thirty nine, Peter speaking piggybacking off
(28:09):
a Joel. For this promises to you and to your children,
and to all who are far off, as many as
the Lord, our God will call. It's clear. Once the
call goes out, it's irrevocable. He's not going to retrieve it.
He's not going to take it back. It's theirs, and
(28:32):
they will answer it. That's the drawing power that the
Lord talked about in John six point forty four. No
one is able to come to me, he said, unless
the Father, who he sent me, attracts and draws him
and gives him the desire to come to me, and
(28:54):
then I will raise him up from the dead at
the last day. Whom the Fire sends to him, attracts
to him and draws him, raise him up from the
dead at the last day. So if the Father puts
the call on you. He will attract you and draw
(29:18):
you to the Lord and give you that desire. I
went through all those phases thinking that I was in control.
I was answering the call. And this call is always
(29:38):
always ascribed to the loving and eternal purpose of the Father,
with the goal of people responding to his grace. It's
all about love, it's all about healing, it's all about restoration,
it's all about relation ship. Religion can't handle that. Religion
(30:06):
can't do that. Religion can't make that happen. It has
to come from within a relationship. Now, let's be clear.
God's gracious call isn't meant to lead to laziness. We're
(30:27):
supposed to do something with it. Paul admonishes his readers
to strive with all their God given strength to live
lives worthy of the calling they have received the Fhesians
four one. I, therefore, the prisoner or the Lord beseech
you to walk worthy of the calling with which you
(30:48):
were called. Then, later on Philippians three fourteen, he said,
I press toward the goal for the prize of the
upper call of God. Messiety is sure a goal that
was set for you and me from day one, when
we confessed him his Lord and savior. That's the goal.
(31:10):
It's an upward call and we need to be active
about it. We need to walk in it, we need
to be conscious of it. We need to work at it.
It doesn't just happen. You do that through prayer. You
do that through praise. You do that through reading the word.
(31:30):
You do that through ministering to people and stirring up
the gifts inside of you, and then suddenly you realize, oh,
that's what I'm called to do. Mine started out and
helping others that were like me and demonic bondage and
being used by the Lord to help set them free.
And then it expanded from there. And the more he
(31:54):
could trust me with, the more he gave me, the
more I intimacy and relationship with him, the more he
realized that he could put more upon me and that
I would do it from my heart. That goal was
(32:16):
set for me from that day one. Did I know that? No?
I did not, And thankfully he didn't tell me that
because it might have scared me and I might have
run in the other direction, even though I'm not prone
to running, but it might it didn't fit into what
I thought I was called to do. Initially, I thought
(32:38):
I was called to take the Gospel and the message
and take the Lord back into the entertainment industry. Oh,
it was so much bigger than that. I had to
learn that along the way. Let's look at Romans ten
for a second, starting verse nine. If you confess with
(32:59):
your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart
that God has raised him from the dead, you will
be saved. Confession from the mouth belief in the heart.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says,
(33:23):
whoever believes on Him shall not be put to shame,
For there is no distinction between jew and Greek. For
the same Lord overall is rich to all who call
upon him. For whoever calls on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. How then shall we call on him?
(33:47):
How then shall they call on Him in whom they
have not believed? How shall they believe in Him of
whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear
without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they
are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the
feet of those who preach the Gospel of Peace, who
(34:08):
bring glad tidings of good things. So Paul's establishing the
relationship between the internal and the external, between the internal
call of God and the external evangelistic imperative of the Church.
(34:31):
Without preaching of the Gospel, a person cannot hear either
of Messiah or from Messiah, nor can they call upon
the name of the Lord and be saved. What if
Philip didn't answer the call to go to the Ethiopian
eunuch and Acts eight. Let's pick it up in verse
(34:53):
twenty six. Now an angel the Lord spoke to Philip, saying,
arise and go towards the south, along the road which
goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
This is desert.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
So he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia,
a eunuch of great authority under canvas. The Queen of
the Ethiopians, who had charge over all her treasury, had
come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning and sitting
in his chariot. He was reading Isaiah the Prophet. Then
(35:27):
the spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake the chariot.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
This chariot.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the
prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you are reading?
And he said, how can I unless someone guides me.
He asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
And the place in scripture which he read was this,
he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, as
(35:54):
a lamb before its sheer is silent. So he opened
not his mouth in his humiliation. His justice was taken away?
And who will declare his generation? For his life is
taken from the earth. So the eunuch answered Philip and said,
I ask you of whom does this prophet say this
(36:15):
of himself or some other man? And Philip opened his mouth, and,
beginning at this scripture, preached you shure to him. Now,
as they went down the road, they came to water,
and the eunuch said, see here is water. What hinders
me from being baptized? And Philip said, if you believe
(36:37):
with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said,
I believe that Jesus the Messiah is the son of God.
So he commanded the charity to stand still in Both
Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and
he baptized them. Now, when they came up out of
the water. The spirit of the Lord caught Philip away,
(36:58):
so that the eunuch saw him no more. He went
on his way rejoicing. It wasn't about Philip to get
the glory, It was about sending the eunuch on his
way rejoicing with the gospel. He came there to worship,
and he left with Messiah. This story shows us the
(37:21):
many elements of God's providence and the supernatural intervention in
the story of the Ethiopian eunuch the head of the
treasury for the queen, which means he was taking this
gospel back to some very special and influential people. He
was spreading the gospel further into the world. And what
(37:45):
this account reveals to us is the importance of these
three things. The Word of God, the Holy Spirit's leading,
and a human evangelists. So for a person to accept
the truth, he or she must first hear the truth preached.
(38:11):
For how are people to call upon Him who are
they not believed in whom they have no faith, on
whom they have no reliance, And how are they to
believe in him here to trust in and rely on
him of whom they have never heard? And how are
they to hear without a preacher. Ever, anything's preacher or
(38:31):
a guy stands up on a stage by a pulpit
in front of a crowd. Philip was a preacher to
one man. You can be a preacher to one person.
And it's our heavenly Father's desire that this truth be
preached everywhere, one at a time, two at a time.
(38:55):
However he ordains it, however he wants to use you.
But that his desire. That's what the Lord said in
Acts one eight. You shall receive power, dunamous, explosive, dynamic,
self replicating power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and
(39:18):
in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of
the earth. Well, because a Philip, the eunuchs took it,
took it further, and we know that what got established
there a very strong, thriving, flourishing church that's still there today.
(39:38):
Explosive Holy Spirit power to share the good news, to
share the Gospel. It gets pent up in your bones.
You have to let it out. And the spirit of
the Lord had been preparing the eunuch's heart to receive
(40:00):
the Gospel, because as he's reading Isaiah. He begins to
ask questions, and at just the right moment, the Lord
brought Philip across his path. The Good Lord says in
John four, studying verse thirty four, this is a story
about the woman at the well. The disciples have gone
(40:22):
off looking for food, and then they come back, and
he says to them, my food is to do the
will of him who sent me, and to finish his work.
Do you not say, there are still four months and
then comes to harvest. Behold, I say to you, lift
up your eyes and look at the fields, for they
(40:43):
are already white for harvest. And he's not talking about plants,
talking about people. And he who reaps receives wages and
gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows
and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this
the saying is true, one sows and another reaps. I
(41:05):
sent you to reap that for which you have not labored.
Others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.
And he was talking about the prophets that had come
before them. After the day of Pentecost. The field was
ripe for the harvest, and Philip was God's labor in
(41:26):
the field. None of this was a coincidence. It was
God's plan from the very beginning, and Philip was obedient
to that plan. He answered the call, and just so
that you know, tradition says that the unit carried the
gospel back home to Ethiopia and founded the church there.
(41:47):
Like I said, it's still there. And according to Irene
as second century writer, he returned to his country and
shared the Gospel, and by the fourth century, Christianity was
his country official religion. He was amazing about that. While
other places faded and lost the faith, they never did
(42:12):
all from that one supernatural event. Look at the heroes
of faith. What if Noah didn't answer the call to
build the arc. I'm sorry, Lord, I'm too busy. I
don't get it. I don't understand, but he said yes.
What if Abraham didn't answer the call to leave the
(42:32):
comfort and the pleasure and the wealth of his father.
What if Moses didn't answer the call to confront Pharaoh.
He tried to wiggle out of it, but he still went.
What if Gideon didn't answer the call to deliver God's
children from the Midianites and he was hesitant as well,
(42:54):
and he asked for divine proof of the calling to
be God's instrument to deliver his people from the Midianites
and Judges chapter six. He was unsure of himself and
he didn't believe he could do it. And here's the key.
Never forget this phrase. I've heard it from others. I used.
(43:15):
I came up with it back in the early nineties.
God doesn't call the prepared, He prepares those he calls.
When God exhorted Gideon to save Israel from the Midianites,
Gideon immediately reminded him of all his inadequacies and requested
(43:37):
a sign from God to prove that it was something
he was supposed to do, something he could do. So
what does he do? He prepares an offering, and when
the Angel the Lord touched it at the end of
his staff, fire came out of the rock and consumed
the offering Judges six twenty one. Immediately the angel disappeared,
(44:00):
sign delivered. He doesn't need to hang around. So what
does Gideon do? He gets fire, He destroys the altars
to bail and Astra built one for the Lord out
of the wood from those idols. He did all that
he was asked to do, and even refused to be
elevated to ruling over Israel, and Judges eight he had
(44:24):
enough sense. I don't want to be glorified. I don't
want to be put up there in a pedestal. But
here's something we can't forget. Callings can become compromised, even
short circuited. We've seen Judges eight starting verse thirty three,
and so it was as soon as Gideon died, the
(44:45):
children of Israel again played the harlot with the bales
and made bail bereth their God. Thus the children of
Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had
delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on
every side, nor that they show kindness to the house
of Gideon in accordance with the good he had done
(45:07):
for Israel. God can use anyone to get the job done.
In Isaiah forty five, we say he called Cyrus by name,
and Cyrus doesn't belong to him. He was handpicked to
fulfill a special role in the salvation history of God's people.
(45:29):
Isaiah forty five, Verse one quick little cover the story,
and thus says Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose
right hand I have held to subdue nations before him,
and loose the armor of kings to open before him
the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut.
I will go before you and make the crooked places straight.
(45:52):
I will break in peaces, the gates of bronze, and
cut the bars of iron. I will give you the
treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places,
so that you may know that I, the Lord, who
call you by your name, am the God of Israel.
For Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, my elect. I
(46:14):
have even called you by your name. I have named
you though you have not known me. I am the Lord,
and there is no other. There is no god beside me.
I will gurge you though you have not known me,
that they may know from the rising of the sun
to its setting, that there is none beside me. I
(46:37):
am the Lord, and there is no other. I form
the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity.
I the Lord, do all these things. Cyrus did not
know the Lord God, yet he called him and used
him for his purpose, and Cyrus fulfilled the calling. Was
(47:00):
the assignment that was important, not the person. We seem
to forget that in today's superstar Christianity church. It's the assignment.
It's the calling that matters, not the person doing it.
(47:20):
But I gotta be honest with you, some callings are costly.
Samson completed his calling to destroy the Philistine, and in
doing so, his life ended at that exact moment. Due
to his compromised calling, all the disciples except for John,
(47:42):
lost their lives fulfilling the calling. James son of Zebedee
killed by the sword. Peter crucified upside down like I said, John,
natural causes. Andrew crucified on an X shaped cross. Philip
possibly defied various accounts. The details are obscure. Bartholem you
(48:06):
flayed a light and beheaded. Matthew stabbed to death. He
died in eaped Theopia. According to tradition, Thomas stabbed with
the spear in India, James son of Alphaeus stoned or
clubbed to death in Jerusalem. Jude martyred, Simon the Zealot martyred,
(48:33):
Judas Iscariot suicide. Judas short circuited his calling by choice,
by his own plans, by his own flesh. So these
men were called by the Lord himself. They walked with him.
(48:56):
So this calling has a price, you know, We pray
for the persecuted in the Martyr every week, and I
hope that you have picked up on that concern and
added it to your daily prayers. We're in the eighth
month of twenty twenty six and three hundred and eighty
(49:17):
eight million believers suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination
for their faith. Four thousand, eight hundred and forty nine
have been murdered, four thousand, seven hundred and twelve have
been detained, which means in prisons or jails. Three thousand,
six hundred and thirty two places of worship have been attacked,
(49:41):
two hundred and twenty four thousand, one hundred and twenty
nine believers have been displaced or become refugees. Sixty seven,
eight hundred and forty three believers have been physically or
mentally abused because of their faith. Fifteen countries now reign
as extreme persecution levels, and that's grown from thirteen. And
(50:06):
we know that Nigeria is currently the deadliest country in
the world for Christians for those who believe, and it's
not even close of the four eight hundred and forty
nine believers that have been killed for their faith. Globally,
three thousand, four hundred and ninety of those deaths happened
in Nigeria. That's seventy two percent of the worldwide total.
(50:31):
Saintans having a heyday in Nigeria, Sean Wright, president of
the International Christian Concern ICC, told Cibian News in Nigeria
in particular, the rise of persecution is such an unfathomable measure.
(50:53):
Before twenty twenty four, we were looking at maybe in
a one year period, five hundred six hundred people who
were killed in Nigeria, and just in the past year
that number has gone over twenty five hundred and is
increasing quickly. Behind every statistic is a real person, a husband,
(51:13):
a wife, a pastor, or a child who has chosen
faithfulness to the Lord despite enormous persecution. The Index is
not simply a report about persecution and calls for the
global Church to stand with our brothers and sisters who
suffer for their faith, because behind every statistic is a
(51:37):
real person that has chosen Jesus over safety. Hebrews thirteen
three tells us remember those in prison as if you
were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if
you felt their pain in your own bodies. Wasn't that
(52:00):
in Ephesian six. Prayer and intercession for all the saints.
You needed numbers, I gave you numbers. You needed a reason,
I gave you a reason. You wanted a call. Stand
in the gap and intercede. Pray. As believers, we are
(52:21):
urged to live our lives worthy of our calling. I
read this Stuaridophesians for one I therefore the prison the
Lord beseechs you, beseech you to walk worthy of the
calling with which you were called two Peter one to ten. Therefore, brethren,
(52:45):
be even more diligent to make your call an election. Sure,
for if you do these things, you will never stumble.
If you know who you are in the faith, and
you know who you are and him, you will do
these things, and you will not stumble. You will not
(53:05):
be prone to wander. And these are called chosen and faithful,
and they will be with the lamb at the end.
Revelations seventeen, starting verse twelve. The ten horns which you
saw are ten kings who have received no kingdoms as yet,
(53:29):
but they receive authority for one hour as kings with
the beast. These are of one mind. And I don't
think that just means an agreement. I think that's a
part of that demonic hive mind I've taught on. These
are of one mind, and they will give their power
and authority to the beast. So instead of one power,
(53:51):
we're going to have eleven. Magnify that by eleven, and
why they're going to need all that power over fourteen.
These will make war with the lamb, and the Lamb
will overcome them. Doesn't matter. They can eleven times their
power twenty seven times. It doesn't matter. For he is
(54:13):
lord of lords and kings of kings, and those who
are with him are called chosen and faithful. And these
the ones he's called, the ones he's saved, he glorified.
Speaker 2 (54:33):
That's will.
Speaker 1 (54:33):
Romans eight thirty told us moreover, whom he predestined, he
also called, whom he called, he also justified, whom he justified.
These he also glorified. You don't want to be glorifying
in yourself for your works. You want him to glorify
(54:57):
you in service to him. Now, thankfully, I don't believe
the Church will be here at the end. When that happens,
we will come back with him. But those on the
earth that are going to have to live through that
time living through hell on earth because they did not
(55:20):
choose him, because they rejected the call. They're going to
learn the hard way that there was a price. Those
God has called and chosen who remain faithful to him
(55:41):
will stand with him at the end as victors. Dietrich
Bonhaffer stood up against Hitler in Nazi Germany. He stood
up against the evil. He stood up against what they
were doing. Escape to America, but then realized he had
(56:03):
to go back. He went back to inspire the church,
to inspire believers, and it cost him his life. He said,
being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than
about courageously and actively doing God's will. I'm not asking
(56:29):
you to give you life unless he tells you to.
I know this much. When the time comes, I'm not running.
I will stand strong with faith and in the power
of His name. But you have to do what you
think He wants you to do. But I will tell
(56:51):
you stop running, stop hiding, stop avoiding, and let's live
entirely submissive to the will of God, whatever that call is.
For He is Lord of lords and King of kings,
and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful.
(57:14):
Chosen and faithful. Chosen and faithful, that's us. So I
leave you with two questions, Are you with him? And
will you answer the call? Every week I talk about
(57:39):
the Remnant arising and answering the call. Will you answer
the call? Abah Papa. We thank you that we know
that you're in this with us, because we couldn't do
it any other way. We thank you, Lord for giving
(58:01):
us your authority to go forth in your name to
destroy the work of the enemies, set the captives free,
to open the prison doors, to preach the gospel, to
tell people the good news. We thank you that you've
ordained it, that you have decreed it, and it shall
(58:24):
be done. So I pray for myself and I pray
for all my brothers and sisters, that we would hear
the call, that we would understand it, that we would
embrace it, that we would do what you need us,
individually and collectively to do in this hour. And we
(58:48):
stand in faith knowing that you'll provide the provisions and
the opportunity as you did with Philip, and that you'll
do it supernaturally in a way that only you get
the glory. When I say so be it, let it happen. Lord,
(59:08):
and I pray this for me and all my brothers
and sisters, and we say amen. May the Lord bless
you and keep you. May the Lord make his face
to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May
(59:29):
the Lord May I don't know you. She Hamashiah Jesus
the Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of lords, lift
up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Give
you shalloam. I'm Richard Grund. This has been the porch
on Firefall.
Speaker 2 (59:48):
Talk Radio
Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
Talk Bade
Hello, Welcome to the Porch on Firefall Talk Radio. I'm
Richard Grund. This is where you will find the uncompromised
red letter basics of the Word of God. We focus
on the Book of Acts Church, the purest, most effective
form of the Church, to see how they serve the Lord.
(00:43):
When we do that, we find the Church Lord intended,
not the one Man created. The Porch is a non denominational,
full gospel approach to the Bible. It's based on the
examples from the Book of Acts Church, and it aims
to restore the pre stood of the believer while regaining
the world shaking influence that the early Church had. The
(01:06):
Church age isn't over. The Upper Room experience is as
much for today as it was on the day of Pentecost.
It's yours if you want it. We offer you the
Word as the Apostles would have to the Jewish and
gentile believers of their day, using both the Yeshua and Jesus.
When speaking of the Lord. We prefer the term Messiah
(01:28):
rather than Christ, as it more accurately reflects how he
was referred to by those who knew him. Additionally, we
will provide you definitions in Hebrew Greek and Aramic when needed.
Getting back to basics, it isn't just our motto, it's
a mandate from the Lord. Links to all of our
social media and streaming sites can be found on the
(01:50):
main page at Firefall talk radio dot com. Subscribe to
us wherever you listen so that you know a new
content is hosted. If you'd like to support us, go
to the bottom of that main page at Firefall talk
radio dot com and there are multiple ways that you
can support us, including a po box. If you'd like
(02:13):
to mail your blessing. Please do not hesitate to contact
us if you need additional information. Remember, we care about you.
We appreciate your support, your encouragement, and your prayers. Thank
you for being a part of the porch community. Contact
us if you need prayer. We have people that would
(02:35):
like to pray for you. All you have to do
is let us know your needs.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
We start out always by going into His presence with
praise and thanksgiving. Well, I praise Him and thank Him
for my salvation. Otherwise I have nothing and I am nothing.
I don't have my home, my wife, my family, sons,
daughter in laws, grandchildren, furry kids. I don't have any
I have no hope, but because of Him I have
(03:05):
plenty of hope, a blessed hope. I praise Him for
his provision and protection for the dreams and the visions
as we live our Joel to twenty eight. I praise
him for the availability of his divine health and healing,
for his divine abiding favor. There is no other favor
(03:26):
we should want. I praise him for the continuing revelation
of the Holy Spirit to guide us in the days
that we're living in, and for making me a new
creation and allowing me to live in these prophetic times.
Let's pray. We start out by praying for the peace
of Jerusalem. Psalm one twenty two, verses six to eight.
(03:48):
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who
love you. Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces.
For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will
now say, be within you. I pray for Israel. I
pray for America. I pray for our leadership. I pray
that we be protected from our enemies, that God would
(04:10):
destroy his enemies. I pray that He would be the
shield about us, the glory and the lifter of our head.
We pray for the fatherless, the widows, the persecuted, in
the martyr, the innocence, and those who are victims of injustice.
We pray for divine homeless health and healing, and me,
(04:30):
my wife, my family, and each and every one of
you getting back to our divine design healing. If you're
sick with it, whatever and heart, mind, body, soul, is spirit,
be healed, and you shew His name. We pray for protection,
his angelic covering keeping us hidden and guarded from the enemy.
(04:54):
Pray for the fire of the Holy Spirit to inspire
us to wake up to answer the call to action.
And those that have been blessed, would be a blessing
so that we can move against the schemes of the fallen,
confronting the enemy with confidence, purpose and power because we
know the King is coming. That Psalm ninety one protection
(05:17):
that we covered a couple of weeks ago, Let it
be available and surround us and envelop us in this
supernaturally dangerous time we're living it. I pray verification and
encouragement each and every one of you, that you would
stand strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might, that you would rise up for the Kingdom
(05:39):
of God, setting the captives free, destroying the works of
the enemy. And finally we pray for kingdom finances to
do all the things that we just prayed in Jesus' name. So, Father, Abbah, Papa, Daddy,
thank you. Thank you for loving us when we were unlovable.
Thank you for sending you sure to die for us,
(06:01):
to pay our debts so that we could come home.
Thank you Lord for the empty cross, the empty tomb,
the upper room, all these things you did for us,
your church. And then you sent back the Roa kak Kadesh,
the Holy Spirit to be with us and Goddess and
guide us, to teach us and remind us. So, Holy Spirit,
(06:25):
we ask you to do all those things. We ask
you to do what needs to be done this day
on the porch, so that this word would go forth
and his will would be accomplished. And I pray all
these things in Jesus' name. And if you agree with me,
say amen.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
These lessons are proprietary information, except where not of the
information comes from outside sources. Combination of that information. The
manner presented is exclusive, cannot be repeated or used without permission.
The date of this broadcast serves as the registered date
of the following information.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
All right, get those bibles open, let's get ready here.
Ephesians four, starting verse one. I. Therefore, the prison of
the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling
with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness,
with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring
(07:43):
to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond
of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just
as you were called into, one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who was above all and through all, and
in you all. But to each one of us grace
(08:06):
was given according to the measure of Messiah's gift. Therefore,
he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity
captive and gave gifts to men. That's what we're talking about,
talking about the calling. We hear it again in second
Thessalonians one eleven. Therefore, we also pray always for you
(08:30):
that our God would count you worthy of this calling
and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and
the work of faith with power, Faith with power. That's
what it's going to take to fulfill the calling. Messiah's
people are those whom he has called and are rightly
(08:51):
called by his name Romans eight twenty eight. And we
know that all things work together good to those who
love God, to those who are the called according to
his purpose.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
The called that's us. We have stood up.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
We have said yes, Lord, and we know that we
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
his own, special people that proclaim the praises of Him
who has called us out of darkness and into his
(09:32):
marvelous light First Peter two nine. That's what it is.
He called us out of darkness, like a shepherd calling
his sheep. Some of us wandered back, some of us
ran back. But the calling changes us into his children
(09:59):
First John three to one. Behold what manner of love
the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be
called children of God. Therefore the world does not know
us because it did not know him. And that's what
happens when you are called, You suddenly become an adversary
(10:24):
to the world. Mark thirteen thirteen. Read letters as Sue
was speaking, and you will be hated by all for
my name's sake. But he who endures to the end,
shall be saved. No sugar coating it there. This isn't
you know, a community get together. This isn't a country club.
(10:49):
This is an adversarial relationship with the world, and therefore
the enemy. John fifteen, verses eighteen and nineteen. If if
the world hates you, you know that it hated me
before it hated you. If you were of the world,
would the world would love its own? Yet, because you
(11:11):
are not of the world. But I chose you out
of the world. Therefore the world hates you. John seventeen,
verses nine through sixteen, him speaking to the Father, I
pray for them, meaning his disciples. I do not pray
for the world, but for those whom you've given me,
(11:32):
for they are yours, and all mine are yours, and
yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. Now
I am no longer in the world, but these are
in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father.
Keep through your name those whom you've given me, that
they may be one as we are. Well I was
(11:54):
with them in the world. I kept them in your name.
Those whom you gave me I have kept. And none
of them is lost except the son of tradition which
we know as judas that the scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I come to you, and these things I
speak in the world, that they may have my joy
(12:14):
fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and
the world has hated them because they are not of
the world, just as I am not of the world.
I do not pray that you should take them out
of the world, but that you should keep them from
the evil one. They are not of the world, just
(12:35):
as I am not of the world. And later on
he prays for those that would come after. So very
clearly we're not of this world. And according to Romans
one point thirty, the people of those times will be
haters of God, and we're in those times. The Topical
(12:57):
Encyclopedia says the term God haters refers to individuals who
exhibit a profound disdain or hostility toward God. This concept
is addressed in various passages of the Bible, where such
individuals are often depicted as rejecting God's authority, commandments, and love.
(13:23):
You know what's interesting about that many of those individuals
rejecting his authority, his commandments, and his love cling to
be believers. They sit in a building somewhere claiming to
be a part of the church. That's what the enemy
has done. The enemy has infiltrated and is corrupting us
(13:49):
from the inside out. That's why messages like these from
the Lord, though they may seem harsh, are necessary to
keep us awake, to keep us conscious of the words.
What the Word says to us. What the Lord said
to us, He didn't say was going to be easy.
(14:10):
He said, hey, they're going to hate you the way
they hated me. And we know what they did. They
killed him. Oh boy, did they make a mistake when
they did that, because then he rose from the dead
and became King of kings and Lord of lords. But
if you look at that section of Romans, chapter one,
(14:33):
I'll start with verse twenty eight. It's the New Living translation.
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned
them to their foolish thinking and let them do things
that should never be done. You ever wonder why these
things happen. He's letting them do it verse twenty nine.
Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception,
(15:04):
malicious behavior and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud,
and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they
disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises,
(15:24):
are heartless and have no mercy. They know God's justice
requires that those who do these things deserve to die,
yet they do them anyway worse, Yet they encourage others
to do them too. If that's not a depiction of
this time, and I'm sure everybody has said that in
(15:46):
their time, But we're living in a very debased, diabolical
society where they keep inventing more and more ways to sin. Hey,
we don't just want to kill the baby in the womb.
We want to kill it in the womb when it's
ready to be born and full term and could live
(16:07):
on its own. This passage highlights for us the moral
and spiritual decline that comes from rejecting God. So God
haters or a vice, it's a depth of rebellion against
divine authority. That's the world. You've been called in to
(16:30):
serve the Lord. It's never going to be easy. What
are you going to say? What did Isaiah say in
Chapter six? Verse eight. And I heard the voice of
the Lord saying, whom shall I send? Who will go
for us? And then I said, here, I am send me.
(16:55):
I remember saying that early on in my walk, early
on in the ministry and the things that I was doing.
Did I understand what I was saying? No, but my
heart did. Here I am send me. But I'm going
to tell you it won't be easy. But we are
(17:15):
short and we know that God, being a partner in
our labor, all things work together and are fitted into
a plan for good to those and for those who
love God and are called to his design and his purpose.
(17:35):
So what's his purpose for you? Do you know? What
does the Spirit want you to do? He'll show you
if you let him. He'll show you if you listen.
He'll show you if you do it with clear, unbiased
eyes instead of saying, I'm looking for this specific choice
(18:00):
and I'm not going to hear anything else. And from
my experience, usually what he has you to do will
come from where you came out of darkness. It will
start there, it will build from there. You will be
able to minister to those like you because you will
(18:22):
have compassion and understanding for them and their plight. The
Dictionary of Bible Themes says calling is God's summoning of
individuals and people to himself so that they will belong
to him and serve him in this world. The calling
(18:44):
of a believer may involve a specific place, a task,
or a vocation in life. In the Greek, it's a
noun clessis the origin, the nature, the destiny, which are
(19:04):
heavenly in nature, the idea of an invitation being applied.
It's used especially of God's invitation to man to accept
the benefits of salvation Romans eleven, twenty nine. The amplified
version for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. He
(19:28):
never withdraws them once they are given, and he doesn't
change his mind about those to whom he gives his
grace or to whom he sends his call. Once he
calls you, it's done. Now. You may wander around, you
may do all the things to delay it, but he's
(19:50):
not going to withdraw it. As long as you belong
to him. He knows what he wants you to do.
Four starting verse four. That's the amplified There is one
body of believers and one spirit, just as you were
called to one hope, when called the salvation, one Lord,
(20:13):
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all,
who is sovereign overall and working through all, and living
in all. I want to circle back to that, to
the amplified, so that we could look at what that
is saying, because if you're going to answer the calling,
(20:33):
you need to understand the parameters from within that you
will work. One body. That's the church. It's not a building,
it's a people, one spirit, the Holy Spirit, one hope,
the calling of a believer.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
One Lord.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
I don't I just Shua homosiak Lord Jesus, the Messiah,
one faith, the Gospel. That's where your faith comes from.
Your faith comes from him, but it comes from within
the Gospel, one baptism. We've all been baptized into the
body of Messiah and one God, who is abba Father
(21:23):
of all. That's the parameters from within which you work.
And the dysfunction comes when organizations create something other than
that One Corinthians twelve thirteen. For by one spirit, we
were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek,
(21:48):
whether slaves or free, all have been made to drink
into one spirit. We are united by baptism. Noticed there
in speaking to the church and Korn, who are primarily Greek.
The first people he mentions are the Jews, the Messianic
believers who like him have accepted Yeshoe as Messiah. We
(22:11):
can't separate from that. We can't say those are the Jews,
and these are us. They're not a part of the church.
Oh yes they are. They are the foundation of the Church.
We are baptized into one body, into one hope of
our calling, a calling to salvation, a service to God.
(22:33):
Home and Bible Dictionary takes a little further says the
call or calling is a term used of one being
called by God to salvation and to service. The New
Testament uses the concept of call in relation to one's
station in life and a calling to what, it says
(22:53):
Christian's service. Yashue and the Apostles appeared to distinct Wish
between two types of call, an external call from the
Gospel and an internal call from the Holy Spirit. Is
this resonating yet? Are you hearing it? Are you grasping it?
(23:15):
Is it challenging what you've been taught before about a calling?
You can have a calling and use it within a
particular fellowship or a congregation. But your call us to
the church at large. Your call is to the Lord
Colossians two twelve. We've been buried with him in baptism,
(23:37):
in which you are also raised with him through faith
in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
If you don't believe God raised him from the dead,
then you believe in a different Jesus. You don't believe
in the same Jesus. Dietrich Bonhaffer said, when Christ calls
(23:59):
a man, he bids him to come and die. When
you're called, your plans, your desires are replaced by his.
All of your self interest dies, And someone say, well,
how horrible. No, that's great, because the ones He's going
to give you are so much better than anything you
(24:21):
could have imagined. And don't be surprised if some of
what you wanted is in there. Most people associate the
word calling with invitation, like the apostle. Paul says he
was called or invited by God to be an apostle
(24:41):
Romans Paul, a bondservant of Jesus the Messiah, called to
be an apostle separated to the Gospel of God. Right there.
He knows what he's been separated to he knows what
he's been called to do. First Corinthians one to one,
Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus the Messiah
through the w God. So in regard to salvation, the
(25:05):
word call is used in two distinct ways. In the
parable of the marriage feast that Matthew twenty two, in
verse fourteen, it says, for many are called, but few
are chosen. So there are going to be a lot
of people invited, but very few will be chosen. Here
(25:29):
the Lord indicates that the gospel call is intended to
go out far and wide, calling men and women everywhere
to repent of sin and trust in Messiah for salvation.
But not everyone will heed that external or gospel call.
I know so many people from within the denomination that
(25:50):
I grew up in who don't understand any of us.
And when you try to clarify for them, to tell
them the bigger and better picture, they don't want to
hear it. They don't want to heed that call. They've
been called into a religion and you're trying to get
them to come into a relationship. The Bible attributes the
(26:10):
conversion of the sinner to an internal call affected by God.
We know that all things work together for good. I'm
going to read you the entire section of Romans eight
twenty eight through thirty. And we know that all things
work together for good to those who love God and
to those who are the called according to His purpose,
(26:32):
for whom he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be
the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined,
these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified,
and whom he justified these he also glorified. What brethren is.
(26:59):
Paul refirmed too to the Church in Rome. In that case,
he's talking about the Jews, because the replacement theology that
infected the church began way way back then. In the
Church in Rome. Paul was trying to get them to
see the bigger picture, trying to get them to see
(27:21):
that this kind of call will be issued to all
who God is predestined to salvation. And then this passage
he speaks with certainty as to give the impression that
such an internal call cannot fail to achieve its purpose.
And he makes that very clear. The same thing Peter
(27:43):
was referring to on the day of Pentecost in Joel
two thirty two. And it shall come to pass that
whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance,
as the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the
Lord calls Acts two thirty nine, Peter speaking piggybacking off
(28:09):
a Joel. For this promises to you and to your children,
and to all who are far off, as many as
the Lord, our God will call. It's clear. Once the
call goes out, it's irrevocable. He's not going to retrieve it.
He's not going to take it back. It's theirs, and
(28:32):
they will answer it. That's the drawing power that the
Lord talked about in John six point forty four. No
one is able to come to me, he said, unless
the Father, who he sent me, attracts and draws him
and gives him the desire to come to me, and
(28:54):
then I will raise him up from the dead at
the last day. Whom the Fire sends to him, attracts
to him and draws him, raise him up from the
dead at the last day. So if the Father puts
the call on you. He will attract you and draw
(29:18):
you to the Lord and give you that desire. I
went through all those phases thinking that I was in control.
I was answering the call. And this call is always
(29:38):
always ascribed to the loving and eternal purpose of the Father,
with the goal of people responding to his grace. It's
all about love, it's all about healing, it's all about restoration,
it's all about relation ship. Religion can't handle that. Religion
(30:06):
can't do that. Religion can't make that happen. It has
to come from within a relationship. Now, let's be clear.
God's gracious call isn't meant to lead to laziness. We're
(30:27):
supposed to do something with it. Paul admonishes his readers
to strive with all their God given strength to live
lives worthy of the calling they have received the Fhesians
four one. I, therefore, the prisoner or the Lord beseech
you to walk worthy of the calling with which you
(30:48):
were called. Then, later on Philippians three fourteen, he said,
I press toward the goal for the prize of the
upper call of God. Messiety is sure a goal that
was set for you and me from day one, when
we confessed him his Lord and savior. That's the goal.
(31:10):
It's an upward call and we need to be active
about it. We need to walk in it, we need
to be conscious of it. We need to work at it.
It doesn't just happen. You do that through prayer. You
do that through praise. You do that through reading the word.
(31:30):
You do that through ministering to people and stirring up
the gifts inside of you, and then suddenly you realize, oh,
that's what I'm called to do. Mine started out and
helping others that were like me and demonic bondage and
being used by the Lord to help set them free.
And then it expanded from there. And the more he
(31:54):
could trust me with, the more he gave me, the
more I intimacy and relationship with him, the more he
realized that he could put more upon me and that
I would do it from my heart. That goal was
(32:16):
set for me from that day one. Did I know that? No?
I did not, And thankfully he didn't tell me that
because it might have scared me and I might have
run in the other direction, even though I'm not prone
to running, but it might it didn't fit into what
I thought I was called to do. Initially, I thought
(32:38):
I was called to take the Gospel and the message
and take the Lord back into the entertainment industry. Oh,
it was so much bigger than that. I had to
learn that along the way. Let's look at Romans ten
for a second, starting verse nine. If you confess with
(32:59):
your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart
that God has raised him from the dead, you will
be saved. Confession from the mouth belief in the heart.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says,
(33:23):
whoever believes on Him shall not be put to shame,
For there is no distinction between jew and Greek. For
the same Lord overall is rich to all who call
upon him. For whoever calls on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. How then shall we call on him?
(33:47):
How then shall they call on Him in whom they
have not believed? How shall they believe in Him of
whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear
without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they
are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the
feet of those who preach the Gospel of Peace, who
(34:08):
bring glad tidings of good things. So Paul's establishing the
relationship between the internal and the external, between the internal
call of God and the external evangelistic imperative of the Church.
(34:31):
Without preaching of the Gospel, a person cannot hear either
of Messiah or from Messiah, nor can they call upon
the name of the Lord and be saved. What if
Philip didn't answer the call to go to the Ethiopian
eunuch and Acts eight. Let's pick it up in verse
(34:53):
twenty six. Now an angel the Lord spoke to Philip, saying,
arise and go towards the south, along the road which
goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
This is desert.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
So he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia,
a eunuch of great authority under canvas. The Queen of
the Ethiopians, who had charge over all her treasury, had
come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning and sitting
in his chariot. He was reading Isaiah the Prophet. Then
(35:27):
the spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake the chariot.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
This chariot.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the
prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you are reading?
And he said, how can I unless someone guides me.
He asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
And the place in scripture which he read was this,
he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, as
(35:54):
a lamb before its sheer is silent. So he opened
not his mouth in his humiliation. His justice was taken away?
And who will declare his generation? For his life is
taken from the earth. So the eunuch answered Philip and said,
I ask you of whom does this prophet say this
(36:15):
of himself or some other man? And Philip opened his mouth, and,
beginning at this scripture, preached you shure to him. Now,
as they went down the road, they came to water,
and the eunuch said, see here is water. What hinders
me from being baptized? And Philip said, if you believe
(36:37):
with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said,
I believe that Jesus the Messiah is the son of God.
So he commanded the charity to stand still in Both
Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and
he baptized them. Now, when they came up out of
the water. The spirit of the Lord caught Philip away,
(36:58):
so that the eunuch saw him no more. He went
on his way rejoicing. It wasn't about Philip to get
the glory, It was about sending the eunuch on his
way rejoicing with the gospel. He came there to worship,
and he left with Messiah. This story shows us the
(37:21):
many elements of God's providence and the supernatural intervention in
the story of the Ethiopian eunuch the head of the
treasury for the queen, which means he was taking this
gospel back to some very special and influential people. He
was spreading the gospel further into the world. And what
(37:45):
this account reveals to us is the importance of these
three things. The Word of God, the Holy Spirit's leading,
and a human evangelists. So for a person to accept
the truth, he or she must first hear the truth preached.
(38:11):
For how are people to call upon Him who are
they not believed in whom they have no faith, on
whom they have no reliance, And how are they to
believe in him here to trust in and rely on
him of whom they have never heard? And how are
they to hear without a preacher. Ever, anything's preacher or
(38:31):
a guy stands up on a stage by a pulpit
in front of a crowd. Philip was a preacher to
one man. You can be a preacher to one person.
And it's our heavenly Father's desire that this truth be
preached everywhere, one at a time, two at a time.
(38:55):
However he ordains it, however he wants to use you.
But that his desire. That's what the Lord said in
Acts one eight. You shall receive power, dunamous, explosive, dynamic,
self replicating power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and
(39:18):
in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of
the earth. Well, because a Philip, the eunuchs took it,
took it further, and we know that what got established
there a very strong, thriving, flourishing church that's still there today.
(39:38):
Explosive Holy Spirit power to share the good news, to
share the Gospel. It gets pent up in your bones.
You have to let it out. And the spirit of
the Lord had been preparing the eunuch's heart to receive
(40:00):
the Gospel, because as he's reading Isaiah. He begins to
ask questions, and at just the right moment, the Lord
brought Philip across his path. The Good Lord says in
John four, studying verse thirty four, this is a story
about the woman at the well. The disciples have gone
(40:22):
off looking for food, and then they come back, and
he says to them, my food is to do the
will of him who sent me, and to finish his work.
Do you not say, there are still four months and
then comes to harvest. Behold, I say to you, lift
up your eyes and look at the fields, for they
(40:43):
are already white for harvest. And he's not talking about plants,
talking about people. And he who reaps receives wages and
gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows
and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this
the saying is true, one sows and another reaps. I
(41:05):
sent you to reap that for which you have not labored.
Others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.
And he was talking about the prophets that had come
before them. After the day of Pentecost. The field was
ripe for the harvest, and Philip was God's labor in
(41:26):
the field. None of this was a coincidence. It was
God's plan from the very beginning, and Philip was obedient
to that plan. He answered the call, and just so
that you know, tradition says that the unit carried the
gospel back home to Ethiopia and founded the church there.
(41:47):
Like I said, it's still there. And according to Irene
as second century writer, he returned to his country and
shared the Gospel, and by the fourth century, Christianity was
his country official religion. He was amazing about that. While
other places faded and lost the faith, they never did
(42:12):
all from that one supernatural event. Look at the heroes
of faith. What if Noah didn't answer the call to
build the arc. I'm sorry, Lord, I'm too busy. I
don't get it. I don't understand, but he said yes.
What if Abraham didn't answer the call to leave the
(42:32):
comfort and the pleasure and the wealth of his father.
What if Moses didn't answer the call to confront Pharaoh.
He tried to wiggle out of it, but he still went.
What if Gideon didn't answer the call to deliver God's
children from the Midianites and he was hesitant as well,
(42:54):
and he asked for divine proof of the calling to
be God's instrument to deliver his people from the Midianites
and Judges chapter six. He was unsure of himself and
he didn't believe he could do it. And here's the key.
Never forget this phrase. I've heard it from others. I used.
(43:15):
I came up with it back in the early nineties.
God doesn't call the prepared, He prepares those he calls.
When God exhorted Gideon to save Israel from the Midianites,
Gideon immediately reminded him of all his inadequacies and requested
(43:37):
a sign from God to prove that it was something
he was supposed to do, something he could do. So
what does he do? He prepares an offering, and when
the Angel the Lord touched it at the end of
his staff, fire came out of the rock and consumed
the offering Judges six twenty one. Immediately the angel disappeared,
(44:00):
sign delivered. He doesn't need to hang around. So what
does Gideon do? He gets fire, He destroys the altars
to bail and Astra built one for the Lord out
of the wood from those idols. He did all that
he was asked to do, and even refused to be
elevated to ruling over Israel, and Judges eight he had
(44:24):
enough sense. I don't want to be glorified. I don't
want to be put up there in a pedestal. But
here's something we can't forget. Callings can become compromised, even
short circuited. We've seen Judges eight starting verse thirty three,
and so it was as soon as Gideon died, the
(44:45):
children of Israel again played the harlot with the bales
and made bail bereth their God. Thus the children of
Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had
delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on
every side, nor that they show kindness to the house
of Gideon in accordance with the good he had done
(45:07):
for Israel. God can use anyone to get the job done.
In Isaiah forty five, we say he called Cyrus by name,
and Cyrus doesn't belong to him. He was handpicked to
fulfill a special role in the salvation history of God's people.
(45:29):
Isaiah forty five, Verse one quick little cover the story,
and thus says Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose
right hand I have held to subdue nations before him,
and loose the armor of kings to open before him
the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut.
I will go before you and make the crooked places straight.
(45:52):
I will break in peaces, the gates of bronze, and
cut the bars of iron. I will give you the
treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places,
so that you may know that I, the Lord, who
call you by your name, am the God of Israel.
For Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, my elect. I
(46:14):
have even called you by your name. I have named
you though you have not known me. I am the Lord,
and there is no other. There is no god beside me.
I will gurge you though you have not known me,
that they may know from the rising of the sun
to its setting, that there is none beside me. I
(46:37):
am the Lord, and there is no other. I form
the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity.
I the Lord, do all these things. Cyrus did not
know the Lord God, yet he called him and used
him for his purpose, and Cyrus fulfilled the calling. Was
(47:00):
the assignment that was important, not the person. We seem
to forget that in today's superstar Christianity church. It's the assignment.
It's the calling that matters, not the person doing it.
(47:20):
But I gotta be honest with you, some callings are costly.
Samson completed his calling to destroy the Philistine, and in
doing so, his life ended at that exact moment. Due
to his compromised calling, all the disciples except for John,
(47:42):
lost their lives fulfilling the calling. James son of Zebedee
killed by the sword. Peter crucified upside down like I said, John,
natural causes. Andrew crucified on an X shaped cross. Philip
possibly defied various accounts. The details are obscure. Bartholem you
(48:06):
flayed a light and beheaded. Matthew stabbed to death. He
died in eaped Theopia. According to tradition, Thomas stabbed with
the spear in India, James son of Alphaeus stoned or
clubbed to death in Jerusalem. Jude martyred, Simon the Zealot martyred,
(48:33):
Judas Iscariot suicide. Judas short circuited his calling by choice,
by his own plans, by his own flesh. So these
men were called by the Lord himself. They walked with him.
(48:56):
So this calling has a price, you know, We pray
for the persecuted in the Martyr every week, and I
hope that you have picked up on that concern and
added it to your daily prayers. We're in the eighth
month of twenty twenty six and three hundred and eighty
(49:17):
eight million believers suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination
for their faith. Four thousand, eight hundred and forty nine
have been murdered, four thousand, seven hundred and twelve have
been detained, which means in prisons or jails. Three thousand,
six hundred and thirty two places of worship have been attacked,
(49:41):
two hundred and twenty four thousand, one hundred and twenty
nine believers have been displaced or become refugees. Sixty seven,
eight hundred and forty three believers have been physically or
mentally abused because of their faith. Fifteen countries now reign
as extreme persecution levels, and that's grown from thirteen. And
(50:06):
we know that Nigeria is currently the deadliest country in
the world for Christians for those who believe, and it's
not even close of the four eight hundred and forty
nine believers that have been killed for their faith. Globally,
three thousand, four hundred and ninety of those deaths happened
in Nigeria. That's seventy two percent of the worldwide total.
(50:31):
Saintans having a heyday in Nigeria, Sean Wright, president of
the International Christian Concern ICC, told Cibian News in Nigeria
in particular, the rise of persecution is such an unfathomable measure.
(50:53):
Before twenty twenty four, we were looking at maybe in
a one year period, five hundred six hundred people who
were killed in Nigeria, and just in the past year
that number has gone over twenty five hundred and is
increasing quickly. Behind every statistic is a real person, a husband,
(51:13):
a wife, a pastor, or a child who has chosen
faithfulness to the Lord despite enormous persecution. The Index is
not simply a report about persecution and calls for the
global Church to stand with our brothers and sisters who
suffer for their faith, because behind every statistic is a
(51:37):
real person that has chosen Jesus over safety. Hebrews thirteen
three tells us remember those in prison as if you
were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if
you felt their pain in your own bodies. Wasn't that
(52:00):
in Ephesian six. Prayer and intercession for all the saints.
You needed numbers, I gave you numbers. You needed a reason,
I gave you a reason. You wanted a call. Stand
in the gap and intercede. Pray. As believers, we are
(52:21):
urged to live our lives worthy of our calling. I
read this Stuaridophesians for one I therefore the prison the
Lord beseechs you, beseech you to walk worthy of the
calling with which you were called two Peter one to ten. Therefore, brethren,
(52:45):
be even more diligent to make your call an election. Sure,
for if you do these things, you will never stumble.
If you know who you are in the faith, and
you know who you are and him, you will do
these things, and you will not stumble. You will not
(53:05):
be prone to wander. And these are called chosen and faithful,
and they will be with the lamb at the end.
Revelations seventeen, starting verse twelve. The ten horns which you
saw are ten kings who have received no kingdoms as yet,
(53:29):
but they receive authority for one hour as kings with
the beast. These are of one mind. And I don't
think that just means an agreement. I think that's a
part of that demonic hive mind I've taught on. These
are of one mind, and they will give their power
and authority to the beast. So instead of one power,
(53:51):
we're going to have eleven. Magnify that by eleven, and
why they're going to need all that power over fourteen.
These will make war with the lamb, and the Lamb
will overcome them. Doesn't matter. They can eleven times their
power twenty seven times. It doesn't matter. For he is
(54:13):
lord of lords and kings of kings, and those who
are with him are called chosen and faithful. And these
the ones he's called, the ones he's saved, he glorified.
Speaker 2 (54:33):
That's will.
Speaker 1 (54:33):
Romans eight thirty told us moreover, whom he predestined, he
also called, whom he called, he also justified, whom he justified.
These he also glorified. You don't want to be glorifying
in yourself for your works. You want him to glorify
(54:57):
you in service to him. Now, thankfully, I don't believe
the Church will be here at the end. When that happens,
we will come back with him. But those on the
earth that are going to have to live through that
time living through hell on earth because they did not
(55:20):
choose him, because they rejected the call. They're going to
learn the hard way that there was a price. Those
God has called and chosen who remain faithful to him
(55:41):
will stand with him at the end as victors. Dietrich
Bonhaffer stood up against Hitler in Nazi Germany. He stood
up against the evil. He stood up against what they
were doing. Escape to America, but then realized he had
(56:03):
to go back. He went back to inspire the church,
to inspire believers, and it cost him his life. He said,
being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than
about courageously and actively doing God's will. I'm not asking
(56:29):
you to give you life unless he tells you to.
I know this much. When the time comes, I'm not running.
I will stand strong with faith and in the power
of His name. But you have to do what you
think He wants you to do. But I will tell
(56:51):
you stop running, stop hiding, stop avoiding, and let's live
entirely submissive to the will of God, whatever that call is.
For He is Lord of lords and King of kings,
and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful.
(57:14):
Chosen and faithful. Chosen and faithful, that's us. So I
leave you with two questions, Are you with him? And
will you answer the call? Every week I talk about
(57:39):
the Remnant arising and answering the call. Will you answer
the call? Abah Papa. We thank you that we know
that you're in this with us, because we couldn't do
it any other way. We thank you, Lord for giving
(58:01):
us your authority to go forth in your name to
destroy the work of the enemies, set the captives free,
to open the prison doors, to preach the gospel, to
tell people the good news. We thank you that you've
ordained it, that you have decreed it, and it shall
(58:24):
be done. So I pray for myself and I pray
for all my brothers and sisters, that we would hear
the call, that we would understand it, that we would
embrace it, that we would do what you need us,
individually and collectively to do in this hour. And we
(58:48):
stand in faith knowing that you'll provide the provisions and
the opportunity as you did with Philip, and that you'll
do it supernaturally in a way that only you get
the glory. When I say so be it, let it happen. Lord,
(59:08):
and I pray this for me and all my brothers
and sisters, and we say amen. May the Lord bless
you and keep you. May the Lord make his face
to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May
(59:29):
the Lord May I don't know you. She Hamashiah Jesus
the Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of lords, lift
up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Give
you shalloam. I'm Richard Grund. This has been the porch
on Firefall.
Speaker 2 (59:48):
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