It was lovely to have Joy Gascoigne from Grimethorpe Pentecostal Church with us today. She spoke from Isaiah 43:1, where God tells us He has called us by name; we are His. God knows us and loves us and wants us; we are chosen by Him. It’s easy to apply this verse to other people, but it applies to us too; we too are part of God’s big plans!
God is a big God with big plans and we have a high calling, a calling which transforms our lives from the mundane and gives us purpose and meaning.
God asked Adam in the Garden of Eden where he was, and Adam’s response was that he was afraid and therefore hid. There are times when we need to evaluate where we are and understand that God calls out to us not to condemn us but to rescue us. We have all been called into fellowship with the Son and called to freedom (see Gal 5:1). We are called to hope and to communicate hope to others. (Eph 1:3-4). We are called to live differently to the world. (1 Thess 4). Peter tells us we are called out of darkness into God’s glorious light (1 Pet 2:9-10) and that we are now His chosen people. To be called by name is a wonderful thing; to belong to God is even more precious.