In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of responding to God's call and making commitments to Him. He shares his own experience of speaking at Pacific Asia Christian University and witnessing everyone in attendance recommitting their lives to the Lord. The speaker then discusses the brevity and directness of Jesus' call to his disciples, highlighting that they had to make a choice to either follow Him or not. The sermon also touches on the concept of God's sovereignty and the need to recognize and honor it in our relationship with Him.

This is tape number 4259. Derek Prince speaks on the subject, The Life of Faith. This message is entitled, The Call of God. I'm going to try to be brief, because I want to give plenty of time for the word itself, but I'm a little bit in awe of God, when I think, here I am, in New Zealand, in the uttermost part of the Earth, the farthest inhabited distance from Jerusalem, where we make our home. And I think I started my life on the prairies of South Dakota, in the middle of the United States. But God, in His foreknowledge of me, had a plan and a purpose. And I look at my life now, and I say, I surely did not plan my life. No one would ever have thought of a plan like this. I grew up in a Christian home. My parents, I believe, were both born-again Christians. But they didn't talk about it. They were denominational Christians, and they just assumed that we would get what they had. And I went to church regularly, to Sunday school, but I never knew that you could know Jesus. I knew that He was a historical figure, but somehow the reality of Jesus' death, resurrection, ascension, and coming again, didn't ever penetrate. So as soon as I was old enough, I left the church. And then during the Korean War, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. I was serving in the Marine Corps. I attained the rank of sergeant. While serving in the Marine Corps, I met another Marine, who was Jewish, and I married him. And we talked about what we should do for a religion. Neither of us had any faith, but we thought we had to have a religion. So I agreed to convert to Judaism. And I did it unemotionally. It was a convenience thing. But when I began to study to become a convert to Judaism, something happened to me. And I met the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. Now I can't say that I knew Him personally, but I knew He was there, and that He had a concern for the people of the earth, and especially for the Jewish people, whom He had chosen. And I really tried. I gave myself to Him as I understood Him, to worship Him as a Jewess. That was in 1952. I lived a very active life as a religious Jewess. I worshipped in the synagogue. I kept a Jewish home. All my friends were Jewish. We adopted three Jewish children. I was not able to bear children, and so we adopted three. All were Jewish. So my whole adult life has been as a Jewess. Then in 1965, my husband left me for another woman. And so I was faced with the task of rearing three children. And I had just begun to complete my university education, so I went ahead and did that, raising my children. And I really clung to my Jewish friends and to the synagogue. And then in 1968, I became ill. I think I had just overstrained my body. And at that point in time, I cried out to God. I was in my room in my home, and I cried out to God. And I said, Have you forgotten about me? I've really done my best to serve you, to follow you. I can't do anything now. I can't take care of my children. Please help me. And there was a presence that filled my room, and I didn't see Him, but I knew it was Jesus, and He healed me. Now I had a real dilemma, because I believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but I was Jewish, and I didn't have any idea what I could do with Him. I thought I was the first Jewish person that had ever believed in Jesus. I didn't know that Jesus was Jewish. I didn't know that the apostles in all the early church were Jewish. I thought I was the first one. So for about two years, I really ran away from God. And then, again in 1970, I became ill. What I say is, God let go of me. Let me go, but He didn't let go of me. In 1970, I became ill again. And this time, a Christian friend gave me a book. And basically, the book was How to Receive the Holy Spirit, because she knew I believed in my head, and she thought I was born again. So in the hospital room, I read the book, and I realized, it said that Jesus will not fill an unclean vessel. And it told me how to receive Jesus. So I did. It was very simply and unemotionally. I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive my sin and to come into my heart, and He did. And then I said to Him, If the baptism of the Holy Spirit is from You, and You want me to have it, I want it. And He baptized me in the Holy Spirit there in the hospital room. I spoke in tongues, in a language I had never learned, in a whisper, because I didn't want anyone to hear me. That changed my life. That was in October of 1970. I tried for the next little while to go on living the busy life I had been having with all my secular activities and my work, but God really dealt with me because I was so hungry for His Word and for fellowship with Him. And one night, in February of 1971, He brought me to the place where I saw I had to surrender my whole life to Him without any reservations. And I remember it was a tremendous emotional experience for me. My salvation experience was not so emotional. This was, because I had to count the cost. And I said to Him, I'm 40 years old. I have a broken marriage. I have three children who have problems. My health is not what it ought to be. I'm not strong. As far as the world is concerned, I have succeeded. But I'm not satisfied with what I have achieved. I said, whatever my life is worth to you, I give it to you. And you know, He took me at my word. And the first thing that He required of me was that I leave the employment that I then had. I had graduated from university. I was working in a very high-pressure, exciting job. And He required of me that I leave that with no knowledge of where I was to go. But I knew if I didn't obey Him in that, I couldn't expect that He'd ever speak to me again. So I did. A lot of people thought I was crazy. But two months later, approximately, He put me in another position. And when He took me into my next challenge, I was earning exactly twice the amount of money I had been earning in the first job that I left. So He took care of me. The first calling that I had in God after I left my employment was to intercession. And I really didn't understand it. I just knew that He would put burdens on my heart and I would just weep and cry. And sometimes I would know, sometimes I would see the answers. Sometimes I wouldn't. They were often about things that were far too large for me. One of the things that He very soon put on my heart was Israel. And I became an intercessor for Israel. It's very interesting because in 1967, during the Six-Day War, I was a very active Jewess in the synagogue. And it was all remote and far away because I didn't know Jesus. But in 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, I just wanted to leave and go and help. I had such a burden for the people of Israel in that time. That's the difference the Holy Spirit made in me. But in 1974, I visited Israel for the first time. And while I was there, God spoke to me by chapter and verse. There were six scriptures in all. One night in my hotel room. I had never had an experience like that before. And the essence of it was leave everything you have in the United States and go to Israel. One of the scriptures was the people who have sat in darkness have seen a great light. And those who are in the region of shadow of death, upon them light has come. So I went back to the United States and made my preparations. I gave away virtually everything I had. And I immigrated to Israel in 1975 with my 15-year-old daughter and my other children and they all had grown and left home. Two years later, I fell and injured my back. And here I was. I was living in Jerusalem. I was serving the Lord there. And I thought I had achieved my heart's desire to serve the Lord full time in Jerusalem. And then I fell and hurt my back and I couldn't do anything. And I knew God's healing power. He had healed me twice before and yet I couldn't let hold of this healing. And I lay in bed week after week. The doctors really couldn't offer much hope to me. I had a ruptured disc and I also had curvature of the spine which I've had since childhood. The rupture was exactly at the point when the curvature began and it just wouldn't heal. There was no strength in my muscles. And during that period, Derrick Prince, who was at that time a widower, came to Jerusalem. And he heard about me and was an act of mercy and compassion. He came and prayed for me because he has a gift of praying for people who have back problems. Nothing dramatic happened but there was an interesting thing that happened because he had a prophecy for me. And the prophecy he gave me was almost word for word something the Lord had spoken to me about two weeks previously. So I knew that God had been there and that something had happened. What he explained to me was that I should keep the plug in, that God had touched me with his supernatural power and as long as I kept my cord plugged into God's power by thanking him that he was at work in my body, his power would continue to work. And I did that. It was in June that he prayed for me. I was healed in the meeting while I was worshiping the Lord in November of 1977. But what God had more in store for me than I knew because a few days after Derrick prayed for me, God gave him a vision in which he showed him the way back to Jerusalem for him would be a zigzag course. It would not be direct. But the first step of the road back was to marry me. I want to say he's a man of faith because he knew nothing about me and yet he followed through on what God showed him. And in due course God showed me that I should marry him. Now that story was told in this book God is a Matchmaker which came out last spring. And there's more in the book. It also tells young people how to find the right mate. It isn't just a love story. And it has a chapter for pastors and parents. But the essential story is in here. Just a few months before this happened before I fell I had been in prayer with the Lord and I felt very strongly that he wanted me to make another commitment to him. I had committed myself to him without reservation in 1971. And again when I went to Israel I had given myself to him for whatever. But this particular point in time he led me to write out a contract in which I thanked him for all that he had done for me through his blood and through the power of the Holy Spirit and through his Word that he had taken me and transformed me. And then I said in recognition of all that God has done for me I give him permission to do anything he wants to with the rest of my life. And I leave the terms blank. And I left the rest of the page blank and signed my name at the bottom. And it was four months later that I fell and injured my back and about six, seven months later that Derek came along. And I didn't know that that was in the contract. And he keeps on giving me more things that I don't know were in the contract including standing up and speaking to you people here in New Zealand. But at the time Derek and I were married in 1978 the ministry Derek was a traveling minister who sold books and tapes mainly in the United States. He had a staff of about a dozen people in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And we were married with the expectation that we would spend a good portion of our time in Israel because Derek felt the Lord was calling him back to the Jewish people and to Israel. Well, God really fooled us because since we have been married this ministry has exploded. We began a radio broadcast just after we were married just a few months afterwards that was mainly aimed at the United States. We started with eight stations. And it budgeted about $8,000 a month. We didn't know where that was coming from. And now eight years later that ministry circles the globe in six languages. In three Russian three Chinese languages in Russian in Spanish and in English. We are touching at least potentially we could reach half of the world's population with the radio outreach and the literature and tape outreach. And Derek and I travel. Sometimes I think it's continuously. We have a base in Fort Lauderdale. Our ministry base is there. We now have about 35 workers. And we have branches really I try to say all over the world. There are many parts of the world. We didn't do that. God didn't. When we arrived here in New Zealand just over two years ago when we got to our hotel room there was a little note for us in our room with the letterhead at the top that said Derek Prince Ministries New Zealand. We didn't do that. The Lord arranged that. And the ministry has grown and our responsibility has grown. Right now we're on a journey around the world that is taking us in all five months and we're covering 36,000 miles. More and more we're going to the third world countries to the countries that can't support us but who need to hear the truth about Jesus. Especially now we'll be going on to Muslim countries to Indonesia and Malaysia. So what I wanted to conclude with is that I didn't plan my life but every time that I have said to the Lord take me and take me where I am now Lord and take me on. He has taken me at my word and he has opened up doors of outreach far beyond anything I would have ever dreamed of. I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life on a kibbutz in Israel. And here I am traveling with my husband around the world and being able to be a part of a ministry that is reaching the globe. I can't preach like that. I can't unfold the scripture the way he does. But I can pray for him and I can support him in every way. And I just want to encourage you. I try to say young people but goodness I was 40 when I began. So whatever age you are don't hesitate to say yes to the Lord. Oh I forgot I was going to mention to you that this tape here where the pathway of commitment is the detail of the commitments that God has taken you through. When I shared this it's also on video I shared this with Pacific Asian Christian University in Hawaii two years ago. And that's the first time I had ever done anything just like that to speak to such a group of people. And when I finished one of the leaders came and said I believe that we have all been challenged to make fresh commitments. And I was so humbled because every single person there students and staff and faculty stood and recommitted their lives to the Lord. So if you want a challenge I recommend my tape. I only have three tapes. And this packet has two of mine on it. One is my testimony and then the pathway of commitment and the other one is Derek's personal testimony. Thank you. I'm going to carry straight on where Ruth left off. I'm going to bring you a message that's directly related to what you've heard Ruth testify about. The call of God. God's call is something that we can't command. We don't dictate to Him. The initiative is with Him. The New Testament tells us that God's call is holy. It's heavenly. It's an upward call. It's as though our lives are on a horizontal plane. But God's call is vertical. It's something that comes from heaven and bisects our lives. And our life before that call is quite different from what our life becomes after that call. The New Testament speaks a great deal about the call of God. I want to take just some simple central truths about God's call and apply them to all of us here tonight. And what I say applies as much to me who am the preacher as to you who are the congregation. In Romans chapter one in the first seven verses Paul speaks of a call of God three times. In Romans one verse one he says his own description of himself. A servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle. Called to be an apostle. And then in writing to the Romans the Christians there he says in verse six among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. And then when he actually gets to the salutation in verse seven he says to all who are in Rome beloved of God called to be saints. So three times in the opening verses of Romans Paul emphasizes the fact that our relationship with God depends on the call of God. If God did not call we would have no relationship. I want to look together with you briefly at how Jesus began to call his disciples. We'll turn to Matthew the fourth chapter and read verses 18 through 22. One thing I want to emphasize tonight is the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty is a kind of theological word. I interpret it this way. It means God does what he wants when he wants the way he wants and he asks no one's permission. And I think one of the great truths of Scripture which has been largely neglected in this present generation is the sovereignty of God. I think we need to come back to that. Because until we appreciate and honor God's sovereignty there are a lot of ways in which we can't relate to God as we should. So here's the description of how Jesus called the first apostles. Matthew 8, 14. I'm sorry, Matthew 4, 18. Matthew 4, 18. Now Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. And he said to them, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Notice the brevity of what he said. Follow me. He didn't waste a lot of words. Didn't use a lot of persuasion. Didn't do a lot of explaining. He just challenged them directly. Follow me. And he left them with just two possibilities. To follow or not to follow. As I say, their lives were bisected at that moment. Something came from the heavenly realm and they could never be the same again. They could be much better or they could go downhill and become worse. But they could not ever be the same again. It says then they immediately left their nets and followed him. They responded to his call. God doesn't always do a lot of explaining when he calls. He's God. And when he confronts us he just tells us what he expects us to do. Then it says in verse 21, Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father mending their nets. And he called them. Notice the simplicity of it. He called them. And immediately they left the boat, their means of livelihood, and their father, their family ties, and followed him. Very simple. Not complicated, not theological, not religious, just intensely practical. It's rather interesting, first of all, to notice that the first four men Jesus called were fishers, fishermen. Now I've never been a fisherman. But I think I understand the wisdom of God in some measure. Fishermen are a race apart. Some of you here undoubtedly are fishermen. They are fanatics. I mean they don't care about the weather. Whether fish bite or don't bite really doesn't matter to them. They'll sit huddled on the bank of the river in the rain, covered with some kind of umbrella, and just gaze at the water. Ruth and I go for walks sometimes and we pass them. I say, Ruth, the fish aren't biting. She says, that doesn't matter, they're fishermen. Circumstances don't bother them. Discouragement doesn't affect them. They've got a vision for fish. And I really believe Christians should be like that. I'm quite serious when I say I think the Lord knew what He was doing when the first four men He called were all fishermen. And it's interesting to notice, two of them were casting their nets and two of them were mending their nets. And I think that also is a kind of picture of the two great activities of the apostolic ministry. Casting the net is proclaiming the gospel to the people who need to hear it. But mending the net is keeping the church in good order. You see, it isn't much good casting a net that's got holes in because the fish will swim in and fish out. I think a lot of evangelization these days is casting a net with holes in it. We get a lot of fish that swim in, but a lot of them swim out again because we haven't mended our nets. We haven't restored our relationships. We are not rightly related to one another as Christians. And the people come in and say, Well, if that's what Christians are like, I don't think I want this. And they swim out again. The second thing I want to point out to you, which is closely related, is Jesus never called for volunteers. This is so contrary to the thinking of contemporary Christians. And in fact, when volunteers came, He discouraged them. It was His choice, not man's volunteering. Look, I'll give you a little picture. In Luke chapter 9, verses 57 through 62. This is three volunteers. In the British Army, which I adorned by my presence for five and a half years in World War II, they would say three volunteers, you, you and you. So to solve that, they really weren't volunteers. They had learned the scriptural principle. All right. Verse 57. Now it happened as they journeyed on the road that someone said to Jesus, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. You would have thought Jesus got excited and said, Wonderful, we really need you. Jesus never talked like that. Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Then He said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. There was no way to put off the call of God. You understand, when Jesus said no, tomorrow wasn't good enough. He was totally authoritative. Totally sovereign. Left no room for compromise on the part of those whom He called. And then the third example. Another also said, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house. But Jesus said to him, No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. See the authority, the sovereignty, the challenge, the call of God. I grew up in the Anglican Church in Britain. And I was a member of it for the first part of my life. I'm not criticizing the Anglican Church. I did all the things that I was supposed to do. But I never found reality in my own life. And I think if I were to look back, I would say, if I had to criticize, the problem was they never really challenged me. They made it pretty easy. Well, you don't have to do much, but you have to do this. And you know, I didn't know my own heart. But what I was looking for was a challenge. And the first time I was confronted by the challenge of Jesus, I responded with a total response. And I suspect there are some of you here this evening who haven't been too excited by conventional religion. And you're not fully satisfied. And you really don't know what it is that would satisfy you. But I want to suggest to you, it's the challenge of the unequivocal, uncompromising call of God. So if that comes to you, don't let negative impressions from professing Christians keep you back from the excitement of responding to God. Now, what does it entail? I'll tell you in one simple word, everything. Let's look at some of the statements of what it means to be called of God and to obey. In Matthew chapter 10, verse 34 through 39, Matthew 10, 34 through 39. Jesus said, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. There's no compromise in our commitment to Jesus. No other human being, no matter how closely related, can take precedence over our commitment to him. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it. And he who loses his life for my sake will find it. Those are very clear, uncompromising words. And then again in Matthew 16, verses 24 and 25. Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Again, there is nothing between the two. You can save your life, hold on to it, keep it for yourself, please yourself, make your own plans, do what you want to do, but you lose your life. Please stop your machine at this point and turn the tape over.