The Calling of God (part 1) - Apostle Peterson Onoja Abu

The speaker begins by encouraging the audience to pray and ask God to speak to them. They discuss the importance of the calling of God and how it applies to different areas of life, not just ministry. They mention that God is calling men and women into various roles such as pastors, doctors, scientists, and more. The calling of God is described as God's revelation and purpose for a believer's life. It is also referred to as a divine assignment and a heavenly vision. The speaker emphasizes the importance of discovering one's calling early in life and encourages parents to teach their children to pray for God's purpose in their lives. Let us begin to talk to the Lord. We have a short time now to spend with the Lord and I want us to talk to God in this wonderful message. Ask God to speak to you. Ask God to communicate to your heart. I expect the workers to talk to the Lord in prayers. Begin to pray and ask God to open your heart and open your eyes to be able to understand the things that God will be communicating to us at this moment. That God should make us able ministers in the vineyard of God. As workers you will not get tired. As ministers you will not get tired. We will not get discouraged in the work of God. We will not get discouraged in the assignment that God has committed into our hands. Begin to communicate this word to the Lord and ask God to speak to you through the world and through his servants. In Jesus' mighty name I pray. Our gracious Father we thank you for always blessing our lives whenever we come together for a time like this. Thank you for this seminar and thank you Lord because we know you are willing to bless every heart. We have come to you as servants with weaknesses. We have come to seek strength from you. We pray Holy Spirit that you bless every one of us in Jesus' name. Bless the heart of the workers and the ministers of God and everyone that we get hold of this message. Bless them by your Spirit in the name of Jesus. For in Jesus' mighty name we pray. We'll be talking about an important message. Important because of the season in which we are. The period in which we are. We are in a very crucial period and they are rising. God has been calling men into ministry and men, young ones are rising responding to the call of God and this statement of God calls me or God is calling me appear to be in the mouth of every young, zealous ministers of God. So any young man you see, any young believer you see that is so fervent for God serving the Lord. After some time you start hearing them saying that they have the calling of God upon their lives and therefore they are going to plant their churches and plant their ministries and most of all that I hear, some of us that I hear might be sensing the same thing or having the same experiences in our life and then you may want to ask how will I be able to know that God is calling me or how will I be able to detect and notice the calling of God upon my life and that is what this topic is all about. Although this is part one, I'll be coming back again to talk, to share with you about the part two of this message. So we'll be talking about the calling of God. Our topic is the calling of God. The first thing I want to assure you is that God is calling men. God has called men. God calls men and God is still calling men into ministry and ministry is not only the dimension that God is calling men into. He's also calling men into the business, into business, into other fields and every other careers of life that God intends to use them for. So understand that we have men that God has called to become scientists. We have people that God has called to be doctors. We have people that God has called to be priests like pastors. We have people that God has called into the ministry of earth. They don't have a ministry like a church but all they do is they go into the locals, they go into the communities, they go into ghettos and then they give to the needy, to the poor and it is God that called them into that function, into that calling. So the calling of God is not only narrowed to ministry. Of course you should know that not every one of us will become ministers like pastors. Even in the ministry not everyone will be pastors. Some will be called to be evangelist. Some will be called to be apostle. Some of them will be called to be prophet and some will be called to be teacher. Some of the pastors, they say teacher and pastors are the same. But the calling of God is short, is scriptural and whenever you hear that someone says that God has called him, we shouldn't take that person for granted or just use the kind of I don't care attitude towards the statement of that person because most times it is common among ministers. When someone under you comes to you that God is calling him for ministry, we try to shut them up by saying, we try to shut them up by saying that we are going to pray about it, that they should just wait. Why are they just responding to ministry? Where are they going to? And we use statements like that to imprison them. So we don't we don't give them the benefit of them you know or we of them having access to us and then we giving them a very good response. When a minister, when a worker, when someone under us come to us and say God is calling them into ministry, we should pray. When we tell them that we are going to pray about it as pastors, we shouldn't just be, just tell them in order for us to free them, we should actually pray about it because God is calling men and even in these last days, God is recruiting men into the ministry. God is calling some into adult ministry, some into youth ministry and then some into children ministry, some is general ministry. God is calling women into ministry. Some women are receiving the calling of God of become of being a pastor. They are called to be pastor women. They have the teaching, they have the not showing ability. So God is calling women into evangelism, into evangelistic ministry. So we are talking about the calling of God now and we're going to have the concept about the calling of God so that we can be, we'll be able to establish our calling on the basis of God's Word. So in this part one I'll be talking about the calling of God using these Bible characters, Abraham, Moses and Samuel. They are going to be the biblical characters we are going to use for this part one. Now what is the calling of God? Number one, the calling of God is God's revelation that enable a believer to discover his or her life purpose. That is number one. The calling of God is God's revelation that enable a believer to discover his or her life purpose. So when God decide to grant you a revelation that will enable you to discover your life purpose, that means you have discovered your calling. So the calling of God is the revelation of God to a believer. To reveal to that believer his purpose in life. That is the calling of God. Number two, the calling of God is also God's call to divine assignments. God's call or God's calling to divine assignments. When God is calling you to a particular assignment, a particular assignment, that assignment becomes your calling. So calling, when we talk about calling in a nutshell, we're also talking about the assignment of God that God has granted to you and given to you to fulfill on earth. So your assignment, your God-given assignment is also the calling of God upon your life. So when God calls you, we are talking about what is your God-given assignment. Well, we should know when to use this statement because many times people are in their God-given assignment but they don't know that God has called them. Are you with me? They are in their God-given assignment but they don't know that God has called them. They don't know that God has called them. So when we talk about God's calling, we're also talking about your divine assignment, your God-given assignment. So that you should not miss it. Number three, when we talk about the calling of God, we're also talking about the heavenly vision revealed to you. God's heavenly vision to you. It's good we have, we break this down so that you'll be able to understand and know when God is calling you or whether God has called you or to discover the calling of God for your life. So the calling of God is also known as life purpose. So whenever I'm asking you what is your life purpose, I'm also asking you what is God's calling for your life. Number two, the calling of God also means your life's assignment, your life's assignment. So when I ask you what's your life's assignment, I'm also asking you what is the calling of God for your life. Number three is your heavenly vision. If I ask you what is the heavenly vision given to you, understand that I'm also asking you about the calling of God for your life. And having this understanding, it is good. We start discovering our calling early in life. It is very good. And this is why explaining this concept of the calling of God, I want you, even no matter how young you are here, if you have not known your life purpose on earth, you start worrying about it now. You may not hear a voice coming to your room and said, John, John, John, from today I have called you to be a pastor. From today I've called you to be a doctor, to be an engineer. It may not come to you, so you go and seek it from God. So every believer has a life-giving purpose. I repeat, every believer has a life-giving purpose. Every believer and every human being, not just believer, every human being has a life-giving purpose, a God-given purpose. Every human being. So the earlier you discover yours, the better. In fact, it should be better you start fulfilling it from earlier stage. If your child is here and your child is up to seven years, start pressuring that child to start praying for God's purpose for his life. It's not too early. Six years, as far as your child can communicate and he or she is gradually understanding things, start asking that child to be praying that God should speak to him or speak to her about his purpose, his life-giving purpose, about his life-giving assignment, that God should give to him the vision, the heavenly vision. It is good. If we start doing this to our children, it will save them. Even with the parents, some of us are 50 years, 60 years, 40 years, we have not discovered what we are doing. The job we are doing currently now, it is because there is no job in Nigeria, so we just decided to just do one or two things to keep spiritual and body together. We are not in purpose. Some of us, it's just because we graduated with that certificate. Yes, God granted us a favor and then we got a very good certificate. You came out with first class and then first class in engineering, and you say, probably let me just go into engineering. Not that you can confidently say that this is your life-giving purpose. So you discover that even while Abraham discovered his purpose at the later part of his life, when he was 75 years old, you will discover that Joseph discovered his purpose while he was a teenager. Joseph discovered his purpose while he was a teenager, if I'm not mistaken. So discovering of your life-giving purpose, even the person of Jesus Christ, you never saw Jesus Christ wasting resources, wasting money, trying to pursue PhD. He was aware of his calling at the age of 12. He was already testing it. So your God's calling, your divine purpose, your God-given vision, your God-given revelation, your God-given assignment, your God-given purpose, is your calling, the calling of God for your life. And let me say this to you, God calls men into an assignment only when there is need. Only when there is need. So the calling of God comes to us when God sees a need. When God sees a need. God knows that there is a need of a doctor in that environment. Therefore, while you were born, he has already ordained you to become a doctor. There is a need. So we are all created with intention to fulfill a purpose. You were not created to just be, you know, carry a certificate of a work. You were created by God to fulfill a purpose in a particular location. Even as a doctor, if you go and ask God, Lord, where should I go and do or build my hospital? Where should I go and build hospital to treatment? If we begin to pray like that, you will discover that it is not every localities you should have your hospital. You will see that God will begin to send some of us to go and build that beautiful hospital you want to build in the city. God will begin to lead you to go and build it in a very remote village. If we say we want to walk according to the calling of God, you see, most of these edifices we have in the city will be scattered in many villages. Because if we say we want to do it in the way of God, that God has called you to be a doctor and now you want to build your hospital, you will see that God will communicate to you that you take it to a very remote village to go and do it there. The problem we are having is that many things, 99% of the things we are doing as Christians, we are doing it without seeking the calling of God, without seeking the direction of God. So God calls men when there is need for that. He said, and I sought for a man and I find none. He sought for a man. God called the person of Samuel because there was a need of profit in the land. God never created you by mistake. You are not like a mistake that happened or an accidental mistake or happening. No, you were intentionally created by God. If God never wanted you to come to earth, you would have died in your mother's womb or you would have died before now. So the calling of God for mankind is so important that we should never take it for granted. So we are going to talk about the person of Abraham. We are going to reconsider the calling of Abraham and we are going to use it as a platform for exhortation. In the book of Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 12, I read Genesis chapter 12 verse 1 to verse 4. Genesis chapter 12 verse 1 to verse 4. Now the Lord has said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. Now the Lord has said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy country. We discovered that the calling of God on Abraham's life was so detailed and specific. Come out from your father's country. Come out of thy country. It is not a thing of just go and preach. It is not a thing of just go to another land. I want to establish a covenant with you. God has to first of all disconnect him. Come out of thy father's country. Come out from thy kindred. Come out from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation. This is God giving him the detail of his calling. This is God giving him the detail of his assignment. So God didn't call Abraham to go and preach. He called Abraham to establish a nation. So the purpose God called Abraham was not to go and preach, was not to bring any deliverance to anybody. God called Abraham for the purpose of establishing a nation with Abraham. So God wanted to establish a nation. So he needed a man from whose loins he would create things. He would make things and coins. From whose loins he was going to make nations. And Abraham was founded. Abraham was a man. So we discovered that the calling of God to Abraham here, number one, was a separation from his country and God giving him a detailed information about what he intends to do with Abraham. Verse two, and I will make of thee a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. Verse three, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that cursed thee. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. You see how enormous the calling of Abraham was. It was so great, so enormous. You know, sometimes we say we want to be like Abraham. Abraham was come to establish a nation. God will not call you to establish a nation, in case you don't know. So when God gives you an assignment and your assignment is so enormous, there are some encounters that validate it. So not everyone of us will have the calling of Abraham, but we should find the principle that was followed. We saw that Abraham had a vision that God called him, and God called him to make a nation. In fact, God, it's like God was telling Abraham, leave your country. There's a country that I want to make with you. Leave your country. There's a country outside your country that I want to make with you. So when Abraham left, let us read verse four. So Abraham departed, and the Lord, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and the Lord went with him. And Abraham was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Aaron. So when Abraham was leaving, you would think that Abraham left with a complete message. No. When God calls you, He will not give you a complete message, because if you are waiting for you to get the full detail before you leave, you will not leave at all. So what God do is that, what God does is that, He would allow you to receive just the entrance of the message, and if you can run with that, that entrance of the message by faith and with faith, He's going to reveal it as you keep going. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8, Hebrews 11 verse 8, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place, which he should, after he received for an inheritance, obeyed, and went out, not knowing whether he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in the tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, and the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city, while he was walking, while he was called, and God had given him that, I am calling you to establish a nation through you. Abraham looked for a city, which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God. So he thought that God was calling him, he thought that God had already built a city, built a city outside the nation, that God is calling him to come and inherit. So he was walking, never knew where he was going, but he had the faith that there is a city built by God, the builder and the maker of it's foundation is God, the calling of Abraham. So God called Abraham to establish a nation. The calling of Abraham was so specific, the calling of Abraham was so directive, God gave him a direct message, leave your country and go to a land that I will show you. The same way God is calling us, calling us to our calling, and underneath that calling, we have the calling to come out from sin, to come out from the world of sin and to come to Christ. It is only when we respond to the first calling of our call, that the second calling of it can be fulfilled. So Abraham had to first leave his country before he could enter the city, before he could inherit Canaan land. The calling of God, when God is calling you, is calling you to actually fulfill a purpose. If God is calling you, he is calling you for an assignment. Remember that when God called Abraham, he never revealed to Abraham that there will be challenges along the journey. He never revealed to Abraham that there will be temptation that will make him to run to Egypt. He never revealed to Abraham that there will be challenges, but he told Abraham the destination. He gave Abraham the calling, he gave Abraham the glory, the glory at the end of the calling. He said, all nations shall bless you. You shall become a blessing to all nations. Nobody will receive that promise from God that will not respond to the calling of God. So God said, stand up and I will make you a blessing to all nations, all nations of the earth will honor you. But between that calling to the fulfillment of it, there was testing, there was wilderness. Go and get my message about the wilderness journey of life. Go and get that message. So talking about the calling of Abraham, we have established a very solid platform that God's calling is scripture. It came to Abraham. So it was God that called Abraham to establish Canaan land. It was not Abraham's wisdom. It was not from his own wisdom that he stood up and said, well, I think it is time for me to just establish Canaan land. When you are going into ministry, be sure God called you to establish. If God wants you to leave that church, to leave that ministry, he will ask you to get out from there and go to a place he will show you. If God never asked you to come out from your church, on no occasion should you leave that ministry to go and start your own ministry because you can be called to serve under your pastor. You can be called to serve under your pastor. So from here we are establishing points that even when we receive a calling in the area of ministry, if the calling is not to establish other ministry or another church outside your church, outside your country, then you shouldn't leave your country. It was God that asked Abraham, go to a land that I will show you. It was God that asked Abraham, leave thy kindred, leave thy brethren, go to a land I will show you. So the calling of God to Abraham was so clear and distinct. Number two, we are coming out to the call of Moses. The call of Moses. Moses was another man that God called. I would have talked about the person of Joseph, because of time we can't go to that detail. That Joseph was also called. The calling of Joseph was not to build a church, was not to build a temple. The calling of Joseph was to rescue Jacob, to rescue Israel from the famine that was coming. So God at first, God foresaw the coming of the famine, the seven years famine, and therefore he had to give. You see, God sees ahead of time. He can call you because of the protection of another man. Imagine, the old purpose of Joseph's calling was to rescue Egypt in the time of famine. So God had to exhort him for him to become a governor in Egypt for the sake of him to rescue, because he had made a covenant with Isaac, with Abraham, with Isaac and Jacob. So for them to be rescued from the famine that was coming, he had to raise up a deliverer, which was Joseph. So Joseph was called to rescue Egypt, to rescue Israel from famine. Imagine, that was the reason, that was the reason he went to prison, that was the reason he became a governor, just for the sake of him rescuing. It was through Joseph that Egypt was preserved in Gusher. If there was no Joseph, probably Egypt would have, we don't know what would have happened, because the seven years famine was so awful that the whole earth went through it. But God used Joseph to preserve Israel in the land of Gusher. The calling of Moses, Exodus chapter 3 verse 1 to 10. Exodus chapter 3 verse 1 to verse 10. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, he went to Oreb, and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a burning bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will not turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him, out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, You are not near either. Put off thy shoes from all thy feet. For the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses eyed his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry by raising up their tax masters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land, unto a good land, and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, and unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Evites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. So Moses calling was primarily to rescue the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians. That was primarily why God called Moses. So all this year that God was training Moses is just for the rescuing. All the year that God was training Joseph is just for the preservation of Israelites. All the year that God was training Moses was for the rescuing of the Egyptians from Egypt. You see, when God is calling you, He calls you with intention. He calls you with detailed and direct instruction. If God said He's calling you to be a doctor, He gives you the reason of that doctor becoming a doctor. So you can't just say, I have a calling of God, and I'm still confused. I don't know what He wants me to do. If you say you have received the calling of God, and you don't know what God wants you to do, then you pray. Don't run. Don't go out. It means the calling, the information have not yet complete for you to rush out. Because the calling of God is always directive. If God is calling you to rescue people, He's calling you. If He's calling you to do this, He's calling you. If He's calling you to do that, He's calling you. Moses was not called to build temple. He was called to build tabernacle. So in case you build tabernacle, what is tabernacle? It was like a tent, a moving tent. They were moving the tabernacle. So the tabernacle was not a fixed platform. But look at Solomon. Solomon built a temple for God. So we are called for different purposes. We are called with different assignments. Joseph was called to rescue Israel from Egypt, and to preserve. I mean Joseph was called to rescue Israel from Canaan land, the farm land that was in Canaan, and to preserve Israel in Egypt. But now look at Moses. Moses was called to bring Israel out of Egypt. Different assignments, but one God. The calling of God is very directive. The calling of God should be very clear before you rush out. The calling of God should be very clear before you rush out. You must have a detailed information of what He's calling you for. If God is calling you to ministry, what kind of ministry? What is your message? What you do tell the people? The message He asked you to go, the message, the purpose is sent Joseph to Egypt. It was not the same purpose He sent Moses to Egypt. To Joseph, He went to Egypt to preserve the Israelites. To Moses, Moses went to Egypt to remove the Israelites. So our calling may be different, but the same God. Never you criticize those that don't have the same directive calling like yours. They may not be called to do the same thing that you are doing in ministry, but God has called them. They may not be called, and that is why doctrine 9, doctrine 9, difference, it should not bring disunity among the body, among the believers in the body of Christ. We have different specific calling. There are those that God has called for the youth alone. If God has called you for the adult, never you criticize the man God has sent to the youth. A calling must be detailed before you rush out. If God has sent you to all men, then you rush out to all men. Don't just rush out because you have the revelation that you hold microphones and you are preaching. You must be sure that God has called you. Revelation is not enough. You must have a solid conviction backing up any form of dreams or revelation you claim to have before you respond to ministry. There must be detailed information. God is calling you for an assignment. What is He calling you for? Why is He calling you for it? Where should you go and do it? God sent Moses. He said, Moses, go to Egypt. Abraham, leave your country, go to Canaan. There were specific locations for their fulfillment. Specific locations for their fulfillment. The last of it all before we land off is the call of Samuel. We are just going to read just one book of the Bible and then we'll land off. 1 Samuel chapter 3 verse 1. 1 Samuel chapter 3 from verse 1. And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days, and there was no open vision. And it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to dim that he could not see. And here the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, and where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep. And the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli and said, Here am I, for thou callest me. And he said, I called thee not, lie down again. And he went and lay down. And the Lord called yet again Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And he answered, I call not my son, lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went unto Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down, and it shall be, if he called thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood and called at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for thy servant heareth. Now there is something you need to notice about this calling of Eli of Samuel. Samuel was not acquainted with the voice of God, for that was the fourth time of him here with the voice of God. But there is something that I was thinking about when I was reading this place. And even before I came to minister this message, before this preaching, I also thought about it. Why did Samuel, why did he run to Eli after the calling of God? Does it mean that the voice of God was carrying resemblance, the tune of the voice of God was in a resemblance like the tune of the voice of Eli? Because for you to run to a particular man three times, it means that the voice sounded like the voice of that man. And what is the revelation there? Many a times the voice, your calling, many a times your calling will come through the voice of the man of God you are submitting to. Yes, many a times your calling. It may be a prophetic word that the man will speak to you. It might be that the calling of God, that is why sometimes some of my sons that are truly following me, those that are sincerely following, they do something, they come to relate to me their dreams. It is not me, maybe it was Jesus they saw, but Jesus used my picture to communicate to them. So many a times your calling may come through the voice of that man you are truly submitting to. It may come through the voice of that man you are truly submitting to. It might be through the dream, it might be a physical calling. You will be hearing the calling, you will be hearing the voice of God as though your pastor is the one talking to you there. The calling of God. So as God called Samuel, we are seeing that Samuel received a clear, it was three times, a witness, a clear voice from God which was like a resemblance of the voice of Eli. If you are receiving the calling of God, it will come many a times through the voice of a man. It will come like the voice of a man. It may even come like the voice of that man you are submitting to, the man you are following as he is following Christ. My prayer is that as many of us receiving the calling of God, we will not feel God in our generation in Jesus' name. I say we will not feel God in our generation in Jesus' name. And there is something you must understand. The calling of God is coming with detailed information of the assignments we are to execute on earth. Shall we bow our head in prayers and begin to talk to the Lord? I say Father, help me to understand my calling. Give me wisdom, give me clarity on my calling. Help me to understand my purpose, my divine purpose, my divine assignment on earth. Shall we go to the Lord in prayers? Shall we go to the Lord in prayers?