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).
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Go and learn what this means--'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice'; for I did not come to call the religious, but the outcast."
Come to me, all you who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest!
A second time he sent some servants, with orders to say to those who had been invited 'I have prepared my breakfast, my cattle and fat beasts are killed and everything is ready; come to the banquet.'
For many are called, but few chosen."
Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the Faith of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Then he said to them: "Go into all the world, and proclaim the Good News to all creation.
And, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; That every one who believes in him may have Immortal Life." read more. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that every one who believes in him may not be lost, but have Immortal Life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him escapes condemnation, while he who does not believe in him is already condemned, because he has not believed in the only Son of God. The ground of his condemnation is this, that though the Light has come into the world, men preferred the darkness to the Light, because their actions were wicked.
"No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me draws him to me; and I will raise him up at the Last Day. It is said in the Prophets--'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who is taught by the Father and learns from him comes to me.
He will honor me; because he will take of what is mine, and will tell it to you.
Then shall every one who invokes the Name of the Lord be saved.'
And they stoned Stephen, while he cried to the Lord: "Lord Jesus! receive my spirit!"
And, here, too, he holds authority from the Chief Priests to put in chains all those who invoke your Name."
While they were engaged in the worship of the Lord and were fasting, the Holy Spirit said: "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them."
Among them was a woman, named Lydia, belonging to Thyatira, a dealer in purple cloth, who was accustomed to join in the worship of God. The Lord touched this woman's heart, so that she gave attention to the Message delivered by Paul,
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God; so that they may receive pardon for their sins, and a place among those who have become God's People, by faith in me.'
And whom he called-even us-Not only from among the Jews but from among the Gentiles also! This, indeed, is what he says in the Book of Hosea-'I will call those my People who were not my People, and her my beloved who was not beloved.
For no distinction is made between the Jew and the Greek, for all have the same Lord, and he is bountiful to all who invoke him.
My prayer is that the God of Jesus Christ our Lord, the all- glorious Father, may inspire you with wisdom and true insight through a fuller knowledge of himself;
To Christ's People at Colossae--the Brothers who are faithful to him: May 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.
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And, when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And so it came about that, for a whole year, they attended the meetings of the Church there, and taught a large number of people; and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called 'Christians.'