Reference: Call
Easton
(1.) To cry for help, hence to pray (Ge 4:26). Thus men are said to "call upon the name of the Lord" (Ac 2:21; 7:59; 9:14; Ro 10:12; 1Co 1:2).
(2.) God calls with respect to men when he designates them to some special office (Ex 31:2; Isa 22:20; Ac 13:2), and when he invites them to accept his offered grace (Mt 9:13; 11:28; 22:4).
In the message of the gospel his call is addressed to all men, to Jews and Gentiles alike (Mt 28:19; Mr 16:15; Ro 9:24-25). But this universal call is not inseparably connected with salvation, although it leaves all to whom it comes inexcusable if they reject it (Joh 3:14-19; Mt 22:14).
An effectual call is something more than the outward message of the Word of God to men. It is internal, and is the result of the enlightening and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit (Joh 16:14; Ac 26:18; Joh 6:44), effectually drawing men to Christ, and disposing and enabling them to receive the truth (Joh 6:45; Ac 16:14; Eph 1:17).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
You must go and learn what the saying means, 'It is mercy, not sacrifice, that I care for.' I did not come to invite the pious but the irreligious."
Come to me, all of you who toil and are burdened, and I will let you rest.
He sent other slaves a second time, and said to them, 'Tell those who have been asked, "Here I have my banquet all ready, my bullocks and fat cattle are killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!" '
For many are invited but few chosen."
Therefore go and make disciples of all the heathen, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the holy Spirit,
And he said to them, "Go to the whole world and proclaim the good news to all the creation.
And just as Moses in the desert lifted the serpent up in the air, the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." read more. For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that no one who believes in him should be lost, but that they should all have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to pass judgment upon the world, but that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him has to come up for judgment. Anyone who does not believe stands condemned already, for not believing in God's only Son. And the basis of the judgment is this, that the light has come into the world, and yet, because their actions were wicked, men have loved the darkness more than the light.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me; then I myself will raise him to life on the Last Day. In the prophets it is written, 'And all men will be taught by God!' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him will come to me.
He will do honor to me, for he will take what is mine and communicate it to you.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'
As they stoned Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"
He is here with authority to arrest everyone who calls upon your name."
As they were engaged in worshiping the Lord and in fasting, the holy Spirit said, "Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me, for the work to which I have called them."
One of our hearers was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple goods, from the town of Thyatira. She was a believer in God, and the Lord touched her heart, and led her to accept Paul's teaching.
to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that they may have their sins forgiven and have a place among those who are consecrated through faith in me.'
including us whom he has called not only from among the Jews but from among the heathen? Just as he says in Hosea, "I will call a people that was not mine, my people, And her who was not beloved, my beloved,
There is no distinction between Jew and Greek for they all have the same Lord, and he is generous to all who call upon him.
The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, grant you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation through the knowledge of himself,
to the devoted and steadfast Christian brothers in Colossae; God our Father bless you and give you peace.
Watsons
CALL, to name a person or thing, Ac 11:26; Ro 7:3.
2. To cry to another for help; and hence, to pray. The first passage in the Old Testament in which we meet with this phrase, is Ge 4:26, where we read, "Then began men to call on the name of the Lord," or Jehovah; the meaning of which seems to be, that they then first began to worship him in public assemblies. In both the Old and New Testament, to call upon the name of the Lord, imports invoking the true God in prayer, with a confession that he is Jehovah, that is, with an acknowledgment of his essential and incommunicable attributes. In this view the phrase is applied to the worship of Christ.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
and found him and brought him to Antioch. The result was that for a whole year they met with the church, and taught large numbers of people, and it was at Antioch that the disciples first came to be known as Christians.