THE BEGINNINGS
    God called Adam after he sinned. Gen.3.9

THE OLD COVENANT
    God called Abraham. Gen.12.1-4

THE NEW COVENANT
    Jesus called twelve ordinary people. This was a transition time in world history, going from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. He trained these people to do what He did, to demonstrate the power of God to set people free, and to freely announce to all people the call of God, and to train those who accepted that call in all the ways He had trained them. This in embodied in the Great Commission.

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mar 16:15  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mar 16:16  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mar 16:17  And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mar 16:18  They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

    Peter instructed the people on the day of Pentecost, the day when the Church was first empowered, that the Covenant promise of God was "to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2.30,38,39). We see that at this time, 3,000 people accepted the Covenant call of God upon their lives.
    Peter soon after preached this same Covenant message to another group and 5,000 people accepted the call of God upon their lives.
    As the church began to grow, it experienced great persecution from the Jewish religious leaders who thought they were the only ones called to receive the benefits of the Covenant. People who had received their Covenant call were scattered abroad, going everywhere preaching the Word of the Covenant of God being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word"(Act 8:4). So, we find all the people in general going and preaching the Word.
    Paul instructed the churches to follow his example of being a father who lays his life down in order to bring others into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

1Co 4:15  For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
1Co 4:16  Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
1Co 4:17  For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

1Co 10:33  Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
1Co 11:1  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

    We see this happening in the church at Thessalonica.

1Th 1:6  And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:
1Th 1:7  So that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
1Th 1:8  For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.

    Paul instructed Timothy to transmit this teaching to faithful (disciplined) men who would be able to in turn do the same work of teaching others.

2Ti 2:2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

    The writer to the Hebrew believers reproved them for being dull of hearing. He said that for the time they had been in the Lord, they should be grown up enough to be teachers, who could feed off the meat of the Word but instead, they still needed the milk (Heb.5.11-14).
    It is evident in the Word that those who are called of God are to be preachers and teachers.
    We learn in Paul's letter to the Romans that God's call on a person's life is never revoked. "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance".
The Amplified Bible makes it very plain.

Rom 11:29 For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable--He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.

    So, all are called to be preachers and teachers, and this call is never revoked.

THE CALL TO SPECIAL OFFICES OF SERVICE
    God is a God of structure. Confusion is not of God. Some people were confused on the day of Pentecost, but had they known the scriptures by the Spirit, they would have known that "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Ac.2.6,16). But, Peter was faithful to instruct them and bring them from confusion to conversion. May more believers take the responsibility of their call and bring themselves to the place to be able to do the same!
    In God's structure, just like there is a structure in the family, in the military and in the business world, there is a head and there are areas of responsibility to which a person is assigned a position.
    Jesus is the Head, the Church is the Body.

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

    Notice in the above passage, verse 16, that the body is to grow up into Him so that the body is able to edify, or to build up, itself in love. In the context we will see that all the special offices are to work in the body to bring it to maturity so that the body is properly taking care of itself and doing the work of the ministry under the direction of the Head. Let's look at this full passage.

Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Eph 4:8  Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Eph 4:9  (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Eph 4:10  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

    Notice verses 11 and 12, that the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are given to mature the saints so they can do the work of the ministry by growing up into the full stature of Jesus Christ.
     In the military and in the corporate world, it is the leader's responsibility to set an example, train, instruct, and deal with problems that arise, and make final decisions, in order to bring the body of people under him to the place to most effectively carry out the mission.
    This is the same basic function of the special call of God on apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Do they do the work? Absolutely. Jesus did the work. He set the example. But he was training those who accepted His call to duplicate that work in their own lives and to train others to duplicate.
    Just like in the military and corporate world, those who are faithful (disciplined) with their call, will be promoted and put into a position to train and positively affect more people by duplication than what they themselves can do.
    God's plan and purpose might be for you to be in that position of one of the five offices. If you are not faithful (disciplined) with the general call you have in Christ, you will never realize that plan of God for your life.
    Paul was converted in Acts 9. He started sharing Christ and doing the work of the ministry immediately. It wasn't until Acts 13, about 12 or 13 years later according to an Acts timeline chart, that Paul was sent out on a missionary journey. What was he doing for all these years? He was faithfully fulfilling the general call on his life to prepare himself and go and preach and teach the gospel to every creature, and in due time received his promotion into the office of apostle, for which God had purposed for him.
    Many people in the Body of Christ are laying around like the man who had the infirmity for thirty eight years, who was waiting for the moving of the water. He was waiting for the moving of the water, but there was always a reason why he couldn't make it in to get his healing. Jesus came along and spoke a word to him, and he believed and took action on the word. He walked away healed, fulfilling the purpose of why God gave him two legs.
    We need to wake up and do something! Four lepers were sitting outside a city waiting for something to happen. Then, it occurred to them, and they concluded among themselves, "Why sit we here until we die" (2Ki.7). They started moving; they started doing something. As a result, they walked into what God was already doing to bring His prophetic Word to pass that had been spoken by the prophet. The result of their moving was that a nation preserved.
    That's where so many of the Body of Christ are today. They are just sitting around wasting away, waiting for some special call, when if they would just get moving, they would walk into the prophetic purposes of God, even to the point of touching nations! There are people out there praying for someone to come to them and give them more light. If you have the light of the gospel, you are a qualified vessel of the Lord.
    My encouragement to you is to step beyond the concept of not doing anything concerning going, teaching, and preaching, until you receive a special call, or until all the conditions get just right. Begin stepping out with the call you have, doing what you are reasonably able to do, and as you are faithful fulfilling that, you will be promoted into all that God has purposed for you.
    What is God's purpose? To be blessed and go and touch the nations with the gospel. He called Abraham and his seed to this, and through our position in Jesus Christ, we are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal.3.29).
    We are called to be blessed and to be empowered to go and be a blessing to the nations. By taking action on this calling, we can begin moving into God's full purpose for our lives and for the lives of many others.