Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
James 1:22
Equipped-The First Step
Sunday services February 20th
Introduction:
This morning I want to start a new chapter, we are growing as a church, and when I think about where we were only a few years ago and where we are now I get excited! Finding, discovering, and chasing after the calling of God is so important that it should literally be the focus of our lives and our very existence!
Speculate with me! What else could matter more than genuinely discovering all the things that the Lord has for you?
Jesus had all these parables, about this calling!
He likens the kingdom of heaven to finding a pearl of great value, and selling everything you have and purchasing it!
He even goes so far to say in Luke 14
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:26
This is serious stuff, if we are all claiming to be disciples of Christ, than surely our works must demonstrate this right?
I mean what are your actual priorities??
This morning and over the course of the next few weeks I want to explore what it means to step into your calling.
What adventure does God have for you! What calling is he placing in the depths of your heart! Where are you going? Where is he going?
T/S: Let’s chase after the untamed lion who is God!
1. Abraham
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-4
Exp: God started with an individual Adam and he continued with another individual
named Abram. He chose this one man in order to show his love. He spoke to
Abraham personally and promised him something. He promised Abraham that if he
would leave his culture and area and move to a land that God had called him to, that
God would bless him and give him decedents as numerous as the stars.
Abram believed God and God made a covenant with Abram and renamed him
Abraham. God has a way of changing our identity when we begin to trust him.
God promised Abraham that he would have a son. Even though he was 99 years old
and his wife was 90 years old. Can you imagine?
God made a promise to Abraham, so preposterous that Abraham started laughing
and fell on the ground.
But God was not fooling around! He meant his promise, and wasn’t going to allow
Abraham much time to doubt.
God appeared to Abraham physically and spoke to him and promised him again that
the would fulfill his promise.
Sure enough 1 year later Sarah his wife, (Which by the way was named Sarai
afterwards) became pregnant and gave birth to a son, Isaac which means laughter.
(God has got the jokes)
Ill: 3 principles about this passage
1. God keeps his promise
2. God reminds us of his promise when we doubt
3. Even when we take matters in our own hands God is still sovereign
App: What has God promised you? When I think of the promises of God for my life
and the life of my family I cannot help but think of how God has blessed me. But how
many of you know the promises of God often take a lifetime. We want God’s
promises like we want something from the microwave, But God’s promise are slow
cooked, it may feel like they are taking forever but when we submit to God his
timing is perfect.
God’s promise in the Old Testament took many thousands years, and many
generations to fulfill; Abraham did not and could not foresee what we see.
Decedents as countless as the stars, and all mankind being blessed through his seed.
T/S: God reveals himself
2. God keeps his promise.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
Gen 17:1-8
Exp: God literally changes his name! Thus far God has kept his promise to Abram meaning exalted father! Now he changes his name to Abraham which means father of many!
This covenant this promise was a big deal! It is the foundation of the nation of Israel and a covenant that is fulfilled ultimately in Christ and his church. We are children of Abraham, not by natural decent like the jewish people, but by faith!
Everlasting promise!
Ill: This is so weird if you base it down to the root level. Some guy in ancient Iraq, obeyed God, went to Israel, and became the father of Israel. God used his family to not only deliver and transmit his word, the Bible. But Jesus himself was a direct descendent (on his mothers side) from Abraham! The savior of the world and the redeemer of mankind came out of the seed of faith and of Abraham!
App: Now we arrive at the part that effects us, What has God promised to you! I mean it, we often tell people that we are not religious we have a relationship. Right? What has God personally told you, what promise has he spoken over your life?
Your marriage? Your kids life? Your legacy?
God is faithful and we have the benefit of hindsight, We see a better picture of the blessings of God than Abraham could have possibly imagined.
I will be there God! Thats for you
3. God makes a personal promise to Us
9But, as it is written,“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—10these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
1st Corinthians 2:9-12
Exp: These promises in the Old Testament, that have been spoken over for years and years to come, have fulfillment in your life. That is in the life of the believer. All of this hinges on your relationship with God.
What are you willing to sacrifice! Will you make him your lord of just your hobby here today and gone tomorrow.
This sermon series is called equipped but you cannot be equipped if you haven’t even left the gate!
1You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
2nd Timothy 2:1-7
Ill: This is primal, base instinct to the saved soul! Where is the fire in your belly!
A good hunter knows this, when they are up in the really early morning and hear that first crisp elk bugle in early fall and know that they would like nothing better than to find the source of that noise and meet the animal that made it!
A fisherman sees an overhang across the river and thinks that the fish of a lifetime is sitting there waiting in that cover and all I have to do is position myself and make a run at him.
A runner gets a “runners high” When they look at their watch or phone and realize they just passed mile 13 in a marathon and it’s all downhill from there.
A missionary gets an unbelievable joy, when they see years of hard work come to fruition and they watch someone be delivered from the jaws of Satan and walk into the kingdom of God!
App: All of this is pointless ra ra, if you haven’t really taken the first step. This is always the case. The hardest part of any change is taking the first step. You want to get serious about rock climbing, then you are gonna need some good equipment. Do you want to be the best fashion designer, than you need to learn how to sow, wanna paint? Than you gotta get some crayons! This is primal, this is life abundant!
Do not
DO
NOT
Waste your life or time in pursuit of something that moth or rust, thieves or dust can destroy!
Take the bait! Pursue God, and let him equip you for the long haul!
Prayer
God renew the fire in me!