Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  2024  Day 106

April 15;       Galatians 1:1;        104/260;        ‘Called By God’

Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead)

Paul teaches us an incredibly important truth in this verse.  The Lord Jesus is the One who calls us into the ‘five fold ministry’ gifts (the Apostle, the Prophet, the Evangelist, the Pastor and the Teacher, Ephesians 4:11).  We cannot call ourselves into one of these ministry offices.  Many try to function in these offices, without a call from the Lord, but these offices are sacred and those trying to function without the Lord’s calling, will fail.  These ministry gifts are challenging, since they greatly threaten the devil and the kingdom of darkness.  There will be opposition and without a knowing in your spirit that you have been called, the pressure will be overwhelming.  Conversely if a man or woman knows that they have been called into one of these offices, there is faith in the Lord Jesus that since He did call you, He is more than able to enable you to succeed in the calling.  The Bible teaches us that the sons of God (daughters too) are led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14).  The Lord saved me and I was a sincere Christian, active in the church I was saved in.  The Holy Spirit began to speak to my spirit about going to Rhema, the Bible School my wife and I attended.  At first I ignored what the Holy Spirit was saying, thinking it was just my own thoughts.  However, the leading continued, until I knew it truly was the Lord.  After sharing this with my wife and his dealing with her heart about the ‘drastic change’ to our normal lifestyle, we attended Rhema and began the church we have pastored for 39 years.  The Lord called us we obeyed.