Sermon
Notes, April 15, 2018
Rev. Garry McGlinchy
Pastor Garry's sermon, the second in
the series Jesus Is Lord, was
titled "The Man That Said Yes."
It was based on Genesis 12:1-9, where Abraham, a central patriarchal
character, has his first encounter with God.
Abraham receives more attention in the New Testament than any other
person in the Old Testament. The way he
heard and responded to God's call on his life offers a worthy example for our
lives today.
First,
God made the first move. He always does! He draws us, tells us He is near, offers to
help us, and calls us into a new direction for our lives. God reached out to Abraham in his day; He
reaches out to us in our day. The Lord
had first called Terah, Abram's father, to step out in faith and follow Him to
a Promised Land. Terah followed the
Lord's leading as far as Haran, but then he stopped. What should have been a temporary halt became
permanent. In time, God renewed His call
to Abram. He did the same for each of
us. He reached out to us--He made
provision for our salvation long before we even knew we needed it. (Romans
5:8) He sought us out and offered us the
way to His Promised Land. Now Christ
comes to us day by day and offers to lead, guide and direct our lives as we
open ourselves to His lordship. As the
Lord did with Abram, He always takes the first step in our direction.
Second,
God made the call personal. He spoke
directly to Abram. Abram knew His
voice. God sent this personal invitation
only to Abram and his family, not to everyone in Haran. God works with us in just as personal a way
as He did with Abram. He comes to us
frequently in personal ways with His offer to involve Himself in our personal
lives. Does God care about you? Look at His invitations--they are personal
and frequent. (Hebrews 3:7-8)
Third,
God required a step of faith. He
told Abram to go to a land He would show him.
He believed God's call meant that he had to separate himself from
distractions. The best part of this step of faith for Abram was his personal
relationship with God., He traded a life of certainty for a life of faith. He entered into a partnership with God that
day, and that literally defined who he was for the rest of his life.
Does God require any less of
us? Not really. When we become followers of Christ we, too,
must separate ourselves from our old lives of sin. We, too enter into a partnership with
God. We no longer maintain close
fellowship with our old partners in sin--we become a new creation. (2
Corinthians 5:17) The best part of our
step of faith is our relationship with God.
We have an advantage over those in Old Testament times: we have the Holy
Spirit abiding within our hearts. He
brings us the presence of the living Christ every day! Our partnership with God should define who we
are every day of our lives. We, too, can
enjoy a blessed life as we walk in faith each day with our God.
God
made a promise. In Genesis 12:2-3,
we read God's seven-fold promise to Abram. "I will make you into a great
nation, bless you, make your name great, and you will be a blessing; I'll bless
those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and all the peoples on
earth will be blessed through you."
God always keeps His promises. He
remained faithful to these promises during Abram's life and to his offspring,
Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the children of Israel.
Peter quoted the last promise in Acts 3.
God does make promises to our hearts, but we must not confuse our
desires with God's promises. What He promises, He fulfills.
God had been in relationship with
men and women since creation: some that went well (Enoch, Gen.5:24 and Noah
Gen. 6:9-9:12), and some that didn't go well: (Cain, Gen. 4:5-16, and the
people at the Tower of Babel, Gen. 11:1-9)
A new day dawned in divine-human relationships with Abram. God made
promises to enter into contracts that extended not only for Abram's earthly
life, but for the lives of his children and grandchildren as well. All these promises depended on Abram's
cooperation by exercising his faith, trust, and obedience in God.
We see through the pages of Genesis
that Abram made God Lord of his life, and he pleased God so much that God
changed his name. The letter
"h" stood for God in those days, so God put the letter "h"
in the middle of Abram's name and made it Abraham. Abraham didn't always get it right, but God
honored him for his consistent efforts to obey Him. He walked in the light he had, had a growing
personal relationship with God, and served and worshipped God at every stage of
his spiritual journey. He is a worthy
example for us to pattern our lives after today. He was truly a man who said yes to God.
Are you still saying yes to Him
today? Jesus is Lord! Is Jesus Lord of everything in your life?
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