This is Vision for Christ World, Toledo, Ohio, USA. My name is Tim Taylor. 911 is an emergency telephone number that people call for help when they need police or the fire department or health rescue emergency services. The list of nations covered by this 9-1-1 service are Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Jordan, for Iraq starting in September 2024. Also in Mexico, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay. You can call for help when you are in an emergency situation. Your life or the life of someone else may be in danger. Maybe someone has fallen into a well or mineshaft, or perhaps someone is drowning in the ocean or a pool. Also, traffic accidents place people in jeopardy all the time. When the life is in danger, you call out for help. No one knows how long someone will live. The same goes for your eternal life. If you are not born again by the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ, you are in eternal jeopardy, and calling 911 on your phone will not help you for this worst of all possible emergencies. You may never be in a traffic accident or in danger of drowning, but outside of faith in Christ, your life for all eternity is certain to end in never-ending suffering. I am deadly serious. It's time to get this fixed. John 3.36 in the New Testament states clearly, and anyone who believes in Jesus, the Son of God, has eternal life. Anyone who does not obey the Son will never experience eternal life in heaven, but remains under the angry judgment of God. Father God, let everyone see how they can call out to you for help here and now and for the next life in heaven. Praying in the name of Jesus, Amen. The key Bible verse of this ministry is from Matthew 24 14. This gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come. You can find more about us at vision4christworld.com. Our website works on your internet-enabled mobile phone as well as your computer. You can listen to past, present, and future programs there. Just click on Programs at the top of the page. That website address, vision4christworld.com. Psalm 1 states, O the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers, but they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the river bank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. But not so with the wicked. They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction. The clearest Bible verse on calling for help and the drawing of God to salvation is John 6, 44, where Jesus declares that no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. In Acts 16.19 we read this, Now, the Greek New Testament word helkuo is used to describe Paul and Silas being dragged into the marketplace before the rulers. The word for draws in Greek also means dragged. Some come willingly, and some are dragged unwillingly, but all eventually come, although we have no part in the drawing. Why does God need to draw us to salvation? Simply put, if he did not, we would never come. We would never realize our need and call out for help to God. Jesus explains that no man can come to the Father unless the Father draws him, John 6.65. The natural man has no ability to come to God, nor does he even have the desire to come. Because his heart is hard and his mind is darkened, the unsaved person does not desire God and is actually an enemy of God. Romans 5.10 says, for since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. When Jesus says that no man can come without the pull of God pulling him, he is making a statement about the total depravity of the sinner and the universality of that condition. That means everyone has that condition. So darkened is the heart of an unsaved person that he does not even realize it. Jeremiah 17.9, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Therefore, it is only by the merciful and gracious drawing of God that we are saved. In the conversion of the sinner, God enlightens the mind, inclines the will toward himself, and influences the soul, without which influencing the soul remains darkened. In the conversion of the sinner, God enlightens the mind, inclines the will toward himself, and influences the soul. Without this influence, the soul remains darkened and rebellious against God. All of this is involved in the drawing process. Ephesians 118, I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called, his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. Only those who have been drawn through special revelation by the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God will come to Christ. Calling for help on the name of the Lord is basic for salvation and assumes faith in the Lord. God promises to save those who in faith call upon his name. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, Romans 10 13. We have to call for help. Even as rebellious or ignorant people neglect to call upon the name of the Lord, he is willing to hear them and accept them. God wants to be found. He is ready to be known. Isaiah 65 1, I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me. I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by my name. Again, that's Isaiah 65 1. Then in 1 Corinthians 1-2, those who call upon the name of the Lord are identified as believers. To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. So we see calling for help on the name of the Lord is one of the marks of a Christian. So to sum it up, those who call on the name of the Lord are those who recognize him as Savior from the judgment and wrath of God. Whether it is a first time calling upon the name of Jesus for forgiveness of sins, or a continuous calling as the relationship progresses and grows, giving him Lordship over our lives in surrender to his will, Calling on the name of the Lord is vital to spiritual life. Ultimately, calling on the name of the Lord is a sign of humility and dependence on God, our Creator and Redeemer. The Apostle Paul emphasizes calling on the name of the Lord out loud, but also within your heart. He said, if you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10 9. Calling for help on the name of the Lord involves admitting our own need for God, believing in his power to save us, and crying desperately to God from the heart for his salvation. See Isaiah 43.11, Acts 4.12, Hebrews 12.14, Romans 3.10-18 and verse 23. Those who call on the name of the Lord put their hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe, 1 Timothy 4.10. The children of God cry out from a sense of inadequacy, dependence, and the genuine conviction that only He can be relied on to save us from the eternal emergency we are in. Whoever trusts in Jesus Christ by believing in him shall be saved. Acts 16 31. There is nothing complicated about the plan of salvation. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. John 3 16 and 17. The Bible plainly teaches that we do not have to do any work to be saved. See Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. Calling on the name of the Lord is not an act that saves us. The grace of God saves us through faith. We cannot earn salvation by any means. The grace of God is the source of our salvation, and we receive that grace through faith. We call on God as an expression of faith, Romans 5.1. And as new creatures in Christ, we will call on the name of our Lord and Savior as long as we live, see Psalm 116.2. Then in the New Testament, Titus 3.3-7 explains, once we too were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of envy and evil, and we hated each other. But when God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us. Not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and a new life through the Holy Spirit. He graciously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of His grace, He made us right in His sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. 2 Corinthians 5 16 to 21 goes on to say, So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone. A new life has begun. And all of this is a gift from God who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting the sins of people against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So, we are the ambassadors of Christ. God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, come back to God. For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. Now, let me pray for you. Father God, in the name of your one and only unique Son, Jesus Christ, I ask you to send your Holy Spirit to touch the heart and mind of every person listening to me right now. Cause them to desire to have their sins taken away, to pray and ask to be granted repentance that leads to life by God, and to repent of their sins, truly turning away from sin, to have that penalty for sin removed, so that through the faith you give them, they may believe in you, Jesus, and have eternal, never-ending life, starting today, by having personal saving faith in you, Lord Jesus. Amen. Listen to us online at vision4christworld.com. Until the next broadcast, this is Tim Taylor praying the great blessings of God with joy and peace upon your life as you embrace Jesus Christ in personal saving faith. I will leave you today with this text from Psalm 37, verses 27 through 29. Turn away from evil and do good, so shall you dwell forever. For the Lord loves justice, he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.