Every Christian is called to fulfil God’s purposes and plans in their lives.
Jeremiah’s prophecy, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and you will find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29: 11,12.
John wrote, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3: 16.
The endless possibilities of God’s love and grace to those who believe in Jesus.
‘Whoever believes in Jesus’ or is it ‘Predestined?’
In the term ‘whoever’ there will be several people among those who respond to become a follower of Jesus who in the foreknowledge of God (predestined) will serve the Lord our God till the end of their lives. For example, Paul writes in Romans, “We know that everything in God works for good, for those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those who he forknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those he predestined he also called, and those who he called he also justified; and those who he justified he also glorified.” Romans 8: 28-30.
The Holy Spirit searches the heart and mind of every person who turns in faith to Christ. Those who seek to do God’s will through loving God in the Spirit of God, have been justified, declared not guilty before God of sin, through their faith in Jesus, as he paid the cost of their freedom from sin in his life laid down on the cross. God glorified Jesus in his resurrection so, every person receives forgiveness from sin and the causes of sin. Mark 9: 42-48.
Jesus’ ‘Sermon on the Mount’ he teaches that we should not judge one another, as every Christian receives the Holy Spirit when we confess that Jesus is our Saviour and Lord. We all are called to fulfil God’s plans and purposes through the gifts of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12: 3-11.
Ephesians 1: 4 “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should holy and blameless before him.”
The parable of ‘The Sower’ gives reasons why not everyone who believes about Jesus will become his disciple. The Sower scattered the word. Those who heard and received the word along the path, however, Satan came and took away the word that was sown in them, and likewise from others, who for various reasons, would accept it for only a short time before turning away and rejecting his message. Only those who accepted the teaching of the kingdom. and repented would bring forth a harvest of varying proportion. Mark 4: 1-20. God embraces both, ‘Whoever believes in Jesus’ and those ‘predestined’ to believe in Jesus. The parables of the dragnet and the banquet present the same principal were God searches the mind and heart of every person who believes in Jesus.