ANTIOCH WEEKEND LEADERS MANUAL
God's Call
THE INTRODUCTION:
Speaker: a student Duration: 45 minutes Purpose: To reveal the startling truth that God himself has spoken to men about the meaning and direction of life. To reveal something of who God is and the content of his call to each person. To explain how we can hear God's message to us.
Style: With a tone of discovery - the pleasure and surprise of having uncovered the key to unlocking a great mystery. Picturesque - vivid and colorful, bringing to life the events and people of the Old Testament so as to put life into their picture of God and his message. With great hopefulness - holding out excitedly the possibility of something really great.
Progression:
Section I paints a picture of the longing of men of all ages to know the true meaning and purpose of life and their failure to find it alone. But, in the midst of the questioning and searching comes a voice that tells the answers - the voice of God himself.
Section II deals with what God is saying - about Himself and about His intentions and desires for man/woman. He is calling men and women into relationship with Him out of His love for them.
Section III reveals this c all as personal to each person and describes the ways we can hear His call to us, including now on the AWE.
Section IV describes the conditions for hearing God's call to us: Faith and trust in God and putting no priority above God, holding no presuppositions about his call but being completely open to his message. We can trust him because He loves us and wants what is truly best.
THE OUTLINE:
I. MEN ARE SEARCHING FOR THE MEANING OF LIFE
A. What should our lives be like?
B. Men and Women have searched for the answer in many ways.
1. They hunger for meaning and fulfillment in their life.
2. Yet men and women of all ages have fallen short, have found the best answers inadequate.
C. God has spoken to man/woman revealing what life and creation all about.
II. GOD'S CALL
A. God began to reveal himself to Abraham. Abraham hears from God
B. Who God is. What he is like. 1. He is all-powerful 2. He is holy - transcendent, above all things 3. He has authority 4. He is a God of love.
C. Out of love He is calling humanity to a great destiny. 1. Throughout the Old Testament he reveals His great promise. 2. God's intention for man a. His purpose was that men should become his sons, and know and experience his love. b. He is calling a people to himself and calling each person to become part of that people.
III. GOD'S CALL IS PERSONAL TO EACH MAN/WOMAN
A. He invites a free response of faith and love from each person. B. We cannot afford to overlook God's call; the purpose and meaning of our lives is at stake. C. How we can hear what God has to say.
1. In the Scripture God speaks to us of his call and plan 2. We hear Him through the teaching of the Church and those in it who teach us of Him, events and circumstances, etc. - Hopefully this AWE is a means God makes use of to make his call clearer. It is designed to give you an opportunity to consider God's call to you.
IV. WHAT WE MUST DO TO HEAR GOD'S CALL
A. We must have faith
1. Trust the greatness of his call and his ability to fulfill it.
2. Trust him - He loves us more than we love ourselves; He is reliable.
B. We must listen
1. We should expect Him to do something extraordinary in our life.
2. We must be holding no priorities above God himself
3. Because He is concerned for us, our lives are safer in His hands than in our own
THE COMMENTARY:
I. MEN ARE SEARCHING FOR THE MEANING OF LIFE
This section should communicate how startling is the fact that God has spoken to men, that into the midst of the eternal questions and searches of man there is a message that speaks the truth. What man has long desired to know -- that very thing God Himself has told.
I.A. What should our lives be like?
What is it worthwhile to live for? What are the most important things in life? Where can true happiness be found? Is there any way we can find out?
I.B. Men have searched for the answer in many ways.
Here the speaker can indicate the breadth of the universal search for the answer to these questions -- philosophy, ethics, religions, education, the personal probings and introspections of reflective men of all ages.
I.B.I. They hunger for meaning and fulfillment in their life.
They experience a hunger for something more in life than what they know, something that fulfills desires and longings that they feel but cannot fully understand. They reach for God, or for some ultimate good, or for they know not what.
God or .........seen as some ultimate good
man's efforts fall short
Man
I.B.2. Yet men of all ages have fallen short...
Some of the world's greatest teachers have not been able to teach themselves what they most longed to know. And some have despaired of finding "truth" and have been left with a world without meaning and a tragic figure of man. Quotations from writings of men like some of those below would be a good way to communicate something of the inadequacy and frustration of even the greatest men.
Life is a narrow veil between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the height. We cry aloud and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. -- Ingersoll
I dare say that you, Socrates, feel as I do, how very hard or almost impossible is the attainment of any certainty about questions such as these in the present life. -- Plato
I have no peace. All life at the end of its tether. -- H.G. Wells
I am still searching for the true. -- Buddha, on deathbed
It is constant torture to me that I am still so far from Him whom I know to be my very life and being. -- Mahatma Gandhi
We move about the earth with unprecented speed, but we do not know and have not thought, where we are going, or whether we shall find any happiness there for our harassed souls. We are being destroyed by our knowledge, which has made us drunk with power. -- Will Durant
What would these men and millions of others have given too know and experience what they most longed for?
I. . God has spoken... revealing what life... is all about
There is a way. Into the midst of the questions and searching,
Someone has spoken and given the answer to the oldest and deepest questions.
God has revealed the meaning of life and creation. 
What men of all ages have desired to know can be known. The One who created all and is behind all has spoken to man. There is a way for man to know what life is about, what is important, and where true happiness can be found. Anyone who has ears can hear....
This section and the next should try to communicate what an amazing thing it is that God has spoken, more revolutionary than if an intelligent being from another galaxy were to appear on earth and begin to unveil the secrets of life and the universe.
II. God's Call
The story of Abraham sets the stage for the revelation of God's call. Abraham will be later the model of response to God for he is confronted with our problems too -- what is the call? who is God? can He really do this, etc.? Then the speaker develops from the Old Testament a picture of what God is like and what the content of His message to mankind is. This should not be a chronological exposition of salvation history but rather should draw on various events in the Old Testament that reveals various things about God and His call to man. The speaker takes the listeners along on a project of discovery -- what can we find out about God and what He is saying?
II. A. Abraham hears from God.
Four thousand years ago in Haran, a region of northwest Mesopotamia, there was a clan of primitive nomadic people, who, like the other tribes and clans of the age and place worshipped and offered sacrifices to their own household god. The name of the clan's family deity was Yahweh. One day, Abraham starts to hear from Yahweh. In voices, dreams, visions, angels, etc., the family's god starts making demands and promises. He promises Abram that he will be famous and have a big family and will get his own land. He even gives Abram a new name -- Abraham, which means "father of multitudes." Yahweh also demands that "Father of Multitudes" leave Haran and its securities and take off for Canaan. So "Father of Multitudes" takes his 75 year old body, his barren wife, his no kids, some relatives and slaves, and migrates to Canaan which turns out to be already well-occupied by a well-armed tribe and currently experiencing an unpromising famine. There Yahweh promises the land and a great family to Abraham though there seems hardly any possibility that such thing can happen.
Who is this Yahweh? Can He really bring this about? Does He really have the power over the universe and history He claims to?
"Father of Multitudes" begins to wonder, if Yahweh really knows what He is doing. He gets to be about 80 and has not even one child. He panics. He decides to try it on his own by having a child by his wife's slave (story of Hagar Gen. 16). But God accepts no substitutes. Fourteen years later Sarah bears Isaac (which means "laughter" the reaction of Abraham and Sarah when told that she, elderly and barren, was going to have a son).
No sooner is Isaac approaching manhood than God tells Abraham to kill him as a sacrifice. Surely Abraham begins to wonder if all those promises will ever come true. Yet, though it looks even more unlikely, Abraham does what he is told.
Four thousand years later it has all come true. Over half the world believes in the "family God" of Abraham and looks upon Abraham as their spiritual father, and since "Father of Multitudes" was promised the impossible we have learned who this God is, that there is only one of Him, what He is like, and what His intention for man is.
III. B. I. Who God is. What He is like.
This section should be painting a picture of a person (God), using events and statements from the Old Testament that reveal something of the picture.
II.B.1. He is all powerful
He created all things out of nothingness. In Genesis, we read of God's creation of all. He is able to bring about the fulfillment in history of a seemingly absurd promise to Abraham. Time and again in the history of the Jewish people He manages to accomplish the impossible. Three thousand years ago a slave tribe wandered out of Egypt believing in the power of a god named Yahweh. Today millions believe in the same God. What he promises he has the power to fulfill.
The speaker could draw on Old Testament that would show the power of God. E.g. the story of Gideon (Judges 6-8). (Note: wherever there are passages from scripture include they are meant as suggestions. One might want to use some, all, or others in his talk.)
II. B.2. He is holy
Even His name could not be pronounced. Moses was told to take off his shoes to approach the burning bush because he was on holy ground (Ex. 3:5). When he went up Mt. Sinai he was enveloped in a cloud of glory. He was not allowed to look on the face of God. (Ex. 33:18ff).
The story of Job especially reveals the transcendence and authority of God. When Job questions the right of God to let him suffer without reason God replies that He is God and who is Job to question the rights of God. Job repents.
Then from the heart of the tempest Yahweh gave Job His answer. He said: Who is this obscuring my designs with his empty-headed words? Brace yourself like a fighter now it is my turn to ask questions and yours to inform me. Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Tell me, since you are so well-informed! Who decided the dimensions of it, do you know? Or who stretched the measuring line across it? What supports its pillars at their bases? Who laid its cornerstone... (etc.) (Job 38:1ff)
Yahweh gave Job His answer from the heart of the tempest. He said: Brace yourself like a fighter now it is my turn to ask questions and yours to inform me. Do you really want too reverse my judgement, and put me in the wrong to put yourself in the right? Has your arm the strength of God's, can your voice thunder as loud?...(etc.) (Job 40:6ff)
This was the answer Job gave to Yahweh: I know that you are all-powerful: what you conceive, you can perform. I am the man who obscured your designs with my empty-headed words. I have been holding forth on matters I cannot understand, on marvels beyond me and my knowledge. I knew you then only by hearsay; but now, having seen you with my own eyes, I retract all I have said, and in dust and ashes I repent. (Job 42:1-6)
2 Samuel 6:1-8 -- the story of Uzzah who is struck dead for touching the ark of the covenant.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways not your ways -- it is Yahweh who speaks. Yes, the heavens above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts. (Is. 55:8-9)
Did you not know? Had you not heard? Was it not told you from the beginning? Have you not understood how the earth was found? He lives above the circle of the earth, its inhabitants look like grasshoppers. He has stretched out the heavens like a cloth, spread them like a tent for men to live in. He reduces princes to nothing, he annihilates the rulers of the world. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, then he blows on them. Then they wither and the storm carried them off like straw. "To whom could you liken me and who could be my equal?" says the Holy One. (Is. 40:21-25). Also: Is. 6:1-4; 1 Tim. 6:15-16. II.B.E. He has authority
Because He created all, he has the right to make demands. Consider the story of Job.
The calling of the prophets indicated something of the authority of Yahweh. E.g. the call of Ezechial (Ez. 2:1-5:17) In the calling of Jonah, Yahweh exercised his authority over Jonah despite the latters protests and attempted escape (Jonah 1:3ff).
II.B.4 He is a God of love
He is concerned for all creation and especially for man. He desires that men should know Him and love Him. He wants to share with men His great love. He wants to give. He could, because He is God with authority and power, have left men on their own to try for themselves to find happiness, and yet He is concerned for man. Though the universe is vast and the number of men on one small planet large, He is concerned for each one.
I look up at your heavens, made by your finger, at the moon and stars you set in place -- ah, what is man that you should spare a thought for him, the son of man that you should care for him? Yet you have made him little less than a god, you have crowned him with glory and splendor...(Ps.8:3-5).
II. C. Out of love he is calling humanity to a great destiny
Be glad and rejoice for ever and ever for what I am creating, because I now create Jerusalem "Joy" and her people "Gladness." I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and exult in my people. No more will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her;... They will not toil in vain or beget children to their own ruin, for they will be a race blessed by Yahweh, and their chil-dren with them. Long before they call I shall answer; before they stop speaking I shall have heard. The wolf and the young lamb will feed together, the lion eat straw like the ox...Is 65:18-25
I shall rescue them from all the betrayals they have been guilty of; I shall cleanse them; they shall be my people and I will be their God...I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eter-nal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and increase them; I sahll settle my sanctuary among them for ever. I shall make my home above them; I will be their God, they shall be my people. And the nations will learn that I am Yahweh the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for ever. (Ez 37:23,26-28)
Through the history of Israel, the chosen people, and through the prophets God began to reveal the great destiny to which He called man. And it was a promise and a destiny which God himself, out of his love, bound Himself to fulfill.
Genesis 15 - Yahweh made a covenant with Abraham in which He promised Abraham's descendants the land of Canaan. In a "cove-nant of pieces" Yahweh passed between the parts of the slain animals as a fire brand, thus calling upon himself the fate of the slain animals should he violate the agreement. He alone passed between the parts because His covenant was unilateral, the initiative His. In so doing God was saying that He would go even to death to fulfill the promises He made.
I myself will pasture my sheep, I myself will show them where to rest-it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them. (Ez. 34:15-16)
(The vision of the valley of dry bones) "Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying, 'Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead.' So proph-esy. Say to them, 'The Lord Yahweh says this: I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my peo-ple, and lead you back to the soil of Israel...And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live..."(Ez.37:11-14)
"Console my people, console them," says your God. "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her that her time of service is ended, that her sin is atoned for, that she has received from the hand of Yahweh double punishment for all her crimes." A voice commands: "Cry!" and I answered, "What shall I cry?"-"All flower fades when the breath of Yahweh blows on them." (The grass is without doubt the people.)
The grass withers, the flowers fades, but the word of our God remains for ever."...Here is the Lord Yahweh coming with power, His arms subduing all things to Him. The prize of His victory is with Him, His trophies all go before Him. He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in His arms, holding them against His breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes. (Is. 40:1-11)
Through the prophet Hosea God revealed with what love He loved His people and with what pain He felt their unfaithfulness. God told Hosea to marry a prostitute, a woman who would be unfaithful to him that his whole life with its heartbreaking experience might be a sign of God's love of a faithless people. (Hos. 1:2)
Through passages and incidents like the ones suggested above the speaker should sketch out a picture of God's concern for man and desire to bring him to something great. Then, finally, as a summary to the section bringing the whole thing together in stating what God's plan is, what He has been working out in history since the calling of Abraham 4,000 years ago.
What is God's intention for man" What is His call?
1. From before the foundation of the world God's purpose for man was that they should become His sons (cf. Eph. 1:4-6). He would live in their midst, they would know and experience His love...
2. He is bringing this about through His people. He is setting up the relationship and working to bring each person into the relationship of being known and loved by God and part of the People He has called to His love. This people shall live in true peace and happiness...
In the days to come the mountain of the Temple of Yahweh shall tower above the mountains and be lifted higher than the hills. All the nations will stream to it, peoples without number will come to it; and they will say: "Come, let us go up to the moun-tain of Yahweh to the Temple of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths...He will wield authority over the nations and judge between many peoples; these will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift's sword against nation, there will be no more training for war." (Is. 2:2-4)
III. GOD'S CALL IS PERSONAL TO EACH MAN
Gods call each person and wants to bring each person into this personal relationship and personal love.
III. A. He invites a free response
The way in which He calls people to fulfill His plan is different from His call to creation in that it does not work automatically but invites a free response of faith and love: because He loves us He respects our freedom. God wants the love of a free man not the obedience of a robot.
III. B. We cannot afford to overlook God's call...
We are now in the process of making decisions that will determine the direction and meaning of our lives. God has something to say on the matter. We cannot afford to overlook His call, our lives are at stake.
We can know Him and His call to us personally. If we want to know what God is saying to us we can know it; He has revealed and is revealing it to us: that we should enter into a relationship with Him that involves our whole lives.
I have not spoken in secret in some corner of a darkened land. I have not said to Jacob's descendants, "Seek me in vain." I, Yahweh, speak with directness, I express myself with clarity. (Is. 45:18-19)
I know the plans I have in mind for you-it is Yahweh who speaks-plans for peace, not disaster, reserving a future full of hope for you. Then when you call to me, and come to plead with me, I will listen to you. When you seek me you shall find me, when you seek me with all your heart; I will let you find me. (JEr. 29:11-14)
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. (Ps. 145:18)
III. C. How we can hear what God has to say
Special emphasis should be put on the Scriptures as the chief way that God speaks to us and reveals the plan He has for mankind and for us.
III. C. 2. We hear Him through
The other ways that God speaks to us are mentioned, leading up to mentioning the AWE as a way to hear God's call. It is here that the students should be confronted with the realization that God will be speaking to them during the weekend and that they shoud listen. The AWE is designed to try to give an opportunity for us to consider God's call. To consider how well we've fulfilled it; to consider if He might not be calling us to something more, something new.
IV. WHAT WE MUST DO TO HEAR GOD'S CALL
This section should help the students to take on the right atti-tudes toward hearing God. The speaker exhorts them to put aside pre-conceptions about God's will for them that will make it hard to hear God speaking. They are being encouraged to suspend previous decisions and opinions and try to listen to God with a completely open mind and with a willingness to respond complete-ly.
IV. A. We must have faith
1. We should trust in the greatness of His call. God has prom-ised us something so good it has not even entered into our mind. We should believe in His promise, trust that He does have some-thing great for us. We should trust that He has the power to bring it about. Like Abraham, we should trust the greatness of His call even when we cannot see where it is leading yet or how it can be worked out, even if it doesn't seem possible.
2. We should trust God because He loves us more than we love ourselves. He will not trick us or dupe us. We can trust Him because He wants what is best for us more than we do. Further-more, we can trust his promises; He is reliable and doesn't lie. We should be willing to respond to Him completely without fear of getting hurt, because He loves us.
IV. B. We must listen
1. Because of His promises we should expect Him to do something extraordinary in our life. We should be looking for it, awaiting it. We should believe it is a good gift even though it may not look like it at first. (E. g. if a child is offered a shiny nickel and a dirty dollar bill at the same time he may take the nickel even though the dollar is far more valuable). We don't find what we don't look for. We might stumble across it but if we're not looking we won't find it.
2. There are conditions for listening: we must be holding no priorities above God Himself. We must put all our opinions in jeopardy if we are to hear to God. We must not pre-suppose that we know what the call of God looks like or else we are not open if God wants to say something different. We shouldn't assume that "God surely wouldn't want me to change this..." It may be that He does want us to change certain things, or he may want to assure us of something already there. Remember Abraham, ("Surely God wouldn't want me to leave Haran...)
3. It is safe to listen to God with such radical openness. Because He is concerned for us and is God, our lives are safer in His hands in our own. Ha has given us all we have and He has promised us more than we can hope for. He is our Father. We want to respond with great confidence because we are convienced He is concerned for us.