Many Are Called but Few Are Ready: The Cost of Answering the Call Without Knowing the One Who Called You

By Jeremiah Merritt

How do you know if you know Jesus? Because you attend church? Because you operate in spiritual gifts? Because your life has changed for the better? Those may seem like cynical questions until we take a closer look at the scriptures. Matthew, the seventh chapter, makes it clear that many churchgoing men and woman, who operate in spiritual gifts, will be rejected by Jesus because they dont know him. They had cast out devils or operated in deliverance ministry, healed the sick, and done many great works, yet they knew not the one in whose name they were doing it in. It is possible to answer the call without knowing the One who called you.

In this insightful and groundbreaking book, respected author, prophet, and teacher Jeremiah Merritt shares with you:

*How to discern and recognize the biblical Jesus

*How to practically apply being a son of God, in the earth

*The role of sanctification in our relationship with Jesus Christ

*The satanic role of false prophets and teachers in keeping unsuspecting men and woman in the church from knowing who Jesus really is

*Understand the difference between God preserving us from wrath, or reserving us for wrath.

You will walk away from your experience with this book being able to biblically and accurately discern your relationship with Jesus Christ, and have a divine, spiritual confidence to know where you stand with him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490854748

Jeremiah Merritt

Jeremiah Merritt is a teacher, conference speaker, and anointed prophet of God. He is founder and pastor of Kingdom Life Ministries of Darlington, South Carolina. The ministry has grown and has had a great impact in the southeastern area of the United States, turning many hearts and souls back to Jesus Christ. Jeremiah has been married to Tifani for the past thirteen years. Through their covenant relationship, they have been blessed with five children: Jeremiah Jr., Taylor, Joseph, Josiah, and James. For Booking Information: Email us at [e-mail]

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Copyright © 2013, 2014 Jeremiah Merritt.

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WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-5472-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5473-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5474-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014917628

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/21/2014

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction Missing The Mark Through Hitting a Mark

Chapter 1 The Missing Key

Chapter 2 Jesus is Alpha and Omega

Chapter 3 The Connection Between Servant-hood & Son-ship

Chapter 4 Sons Are Sealed as Servants

Chapter 5 Jesus is a High Priest After The Order of Melchisedec

Chapter 6 There is More Than One Way Into The Spirit Realm

Chapter 7 Holiness is Only For The Humble

Chapter 8 Those Who Are Ready Will Have Three Witnesses

Chapter 9 Don’t Attempt to Crossover Without the Cross

Chapter 10 Sanctification Begins Outside the Gate

Chapter 11 The Battle is For the Body

Chapter 12 Beware of False Prophets

Chapter 13 It Was About Eating From The Wrong Tree From The Beginning

Chapter 14 The Vine and The Branches

Chapter 15 Make Sure God is Preserving You And Not Reserving You

Conclusion

About the Author

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible, copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Scripture taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture is taken from GOD’S WORD®, © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.

In conducting research, the author utilized the Bible app for YouVersion (smartphone app version 4.0.13) to access multiple translation versions of the Bible. See http://www.youversion.com

Blue Letter Bible was utilized to obtain Hebrew and Greek translations of particular words within certain scriptures. See http://www.blueletterbible.com

Dictionary.com was utilized for word definitions. See http://www.dictionary.com

FOREWORD

Scripture declares plainly in Proverbs 2:5, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out the matter. It has been made clear to me that Pastor Jeremiah Merritt has drawn from the fountains of God’s vast wisdom, and he has delivered with authenticity the voice of God in this book, Many Are Called But Few Are Ready".

Pastor Jeremiah’s books D.U.I and Many Are Called But Few Are Ready, entail two critical elements which is evidence of the time of reformation. The two critical elements are the appearance of the Reformer Himself and His message. These two serve as agents of change and they will continue to remain as the catalyst until the process of reformation comes to maturity.

Ezra 2:63 declares, "The governor ordered them not to eat any of the most sacred food until there was a priest ministering with the Urim and Thummim." Thank God Pastor Jeremiah understood these instructions because his books ministers with Urim and Thummim which mean light and perfection.

Many Are Called But Few Are Ready rings with a clear sound of both the pure gold bells and the pomegranates of diverse colors.

Apostle David Allen

Cluster International Ministries

Marshville, NC

My deepest appreciation and gratitude to:

My wife, Tifani; she is a jewel. I admire your strength, fascinated by your beauty, and encouraged by your faithfulness. You are more than the world to me. Thank you for committing to a life-long covenant relationship with me.

My five children: Jeremiah Jr., Taylor, Joseph, Josiah, and James. My prayer is that you would continue to follow the example set by your mother and father. Let the Lord be your Rock.

My spiritual father, Apostle David Allen of Clusters International Ministries, Marshville, N.C. Words can’t express my endearment to you for taking my ministry under your wings, and validating the apostolic mantle that rests on my life. You are mighty in the Spirit, and have the heart of our heavenly Father.

PREFACE

The Lord arrested my heart and laid the burden for this book upon my spirit, and wouldn’t allow me to rest until it was completed. I believe it is a right now word for all of those who are seeking truth — the only thing that can make us free!

One of the most alarming realities that I see on a day-to-day basis is the fact that there are droves of people in the church who don’t know the true God and are not, by any means, prepared for his return. The reason why that reality strikes holy fear in my heart is because Jesus declares that eternal life can only be obtained through knowing the true and living God (see John 17:3). As I meditated on the Lord’s statement in the Gospel of John, I concluded that if eternal life is found in knowing the true God, there must be many forms of God that people know, within Christian community, which aren’t whom God is in truth.

We live our lives based on our understanding of who we believe God is. If who I know Him to be isn’t the truth, than I am bound to live a life which is not true. One of our greatest needs in the church today, as ridiculous as it may sound, is a need to know the True and Living God.

I believe it’s so difficult for many to know God, because many of those who have answered the call of God don’t know Him. They’ve been called, but not chosen.

Many Are Called, But Few Are Ready has been birthed out of the burden of communicating to the church who the true, biblical, Living God is.

My prayer is that this book reveals a true measure of who God is, His will for our lives, and His plan for His church, however minute that measure may be.

I warn you ahead of time that this book isn’t a normal read. It is a collective group of teachings on a series I preached to my local congregation. Although it is unconventional, if you read it with an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church, it will do a great work in your spirit.

May the Lord bless you and strengthen your inner man.

INTRODUCTION

Missing The Mark Through Hitting a Mark

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled…if you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. (Colossians 1:21 & 23)

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).

The Enemy Doesn’t Want to Take Our Hope, He Wants to Move Our Hope

Paul makes it clear in Colossians 1:23 that we will be saved only if We continue in the faith, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel. We can’t overlook the weightiness of that statement. We will be saved only if we don’t allow our trials, the cares of this world, and Satan’s deceptions to move us away from the original hope that the gospel was once founded upon.

The enemy, in order to defeat us, doesn’t necessarily have to take our hope; he just needs to move our hope. There are many good intentioned believers who at one point had a genuine desire to walk with God, which have allowed the enemy, through deception and temptation, to move their hope. As a result, many saints are leading lives that have left their soul hanging in the balance, and they’re not the least bit conscious of it! Why? Because they still have hope, but what they don’t realize is that the enemy has moved their hope from the first faith of Christ.

One thing we can never overlook is the fact that faith and hope are inseparable. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for (Heb. 11:1). Faith is hope’s substance. If my hope is moved, so is my faith. When my hope is relocated, where my faith had been taking me is relocated as well.

Peter sheds light on why having relocated faith is so dangerous when he says, …receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul (1 Peter 1:9). Our salvation is at the end of our faith. If my faith and hope isn’t directed where Jesus has ordained for it to be directed, I can’t enter into the place he has ordained my hope and faith to bring me into, which is salvation. That’s why the Holy Ghost warns the saints to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto them (Jude 3). We are made partakers of Christ, only if we hold the beginning of our confidence, steadfast until the end (Heb. 3:14).

Faith is the substance of things hoped for (Heb. 11:1). In other words, faith is the fruit of our hope. Our faith can only be activated in the direction that our hope points it. In short, hope is the gun, and faith is the bullets. The bullets can only go in the direction that you aim the gun. I can have a real gun (hope) and real bullets (faith), and actually shoot my gun and hit the target I’m aiming for, but if it’s the wrong target, it matters not how many times I hit it. The enemy has switched the target that the saints are supposed to be aiming for! Many believers are hitting breakthroughs, hitting blessings, hitting an increase in stuff, but not hitting the original hope of the gospel.

So, in the act of hitting all those things, we’re actually committing sin. How? Sin is missing the mark. The enemy gets us to miss the mark by giving us another mark that’s easier to hit. There are many people in the body missing the mark by hitting a mark not given to them by God. What better way for the enemy to get us to miss the mark than by giving us a different mark to hit, which in reality is a much simpler target to hit than God’s original mark?

Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philipp. 3:13-14). The mark isn’t a thing, personal goals, or success. The mark is a calling! We are called to press toward the mark of the high calling of God. Without answering your call, you can’t hit the mark! Until we truly answer the call of God, which is to Come out from among unbelievers…not touching their filthy things, [so that] God will welcome us. He will be our Father, and we will be His sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty (2 Corinthians 6:17 NLT). Answering the call has to do with coming out, not accomplishing all we can within the systems of this world.

Many are called, but few are ready, because we’re picking up a phone that God isn’t calling us on! We’re aiming at a mark that God hasn’t set for us to aim at! Our ultimate hope in the Gospel isn’t the ultimate hope much of the church is living for.

My prayer is that this book equips you as a believer to discern and follow the true biblical gospel of Jesus Christ, and gain the necessary understanding to work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). May the Lord build you up in the inner man, so that you may be found faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of a faithless generation. Amen.

CHAPTER 1

The Missing Key

Revelation 19:7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness (righteous acts) of the saints.

Matthew 22:10-14 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment…Then he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to his servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness…For many are called, but few are chosen.

Luke 12:35-36 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for your lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

The Missing Link in Contemporary Christianity?

There is one main emphasis that is missing in our contemporary Christianity that has cost the church her holiness, her respect, and, to a great degree, her vision. Sin, compromise, and worldliness have gained comfortable positions in the church, because as church leaders, we have neglected to properly teach and impart this absent Kingdom principle to the body. Sadly, although this is a missing key in the church, most in the church aren’t missing it. What is this void principle we, as believers, no longer apply to our daily walk with God?

We’ve lost the understanding that our daily assignment is to make sure that we’re always ready for the coming of the Lord. The bible makes it clear that our responsibility as believers is to live every day like it’s the day when Jesus is going to crack the sky! For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming (1 Thessalonians 2:19). May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones (1 Thessalonians 3:13).

Jesus’ second coming is mentioned over sixty times in the twenty-seven New Testament books of the bible. The Old Testament mentions the day of the Lord, the day of God’s wrath, the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and other similar references to his second coming through the mouth of the prophets over two hundred times! Jesus himself preached many parables about his second coming. His holy apostles, after his ascension, taught his second coming. If the prophets, the priests, apostles, and Jesus himself emphasized his coming that much, don’t you think it’s something wrong if we rarely mention it, and, in most cases, don’t emphasize it at all today! How can we be ready for something that we’re not even talking