Posted by: john in Sermons
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. GE 12:2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. GE 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” GE 12:4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and
Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from
Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the
land of
Canaan, and they arrived there
Abe was a normal bloke of his time, with an extraordinary God.
1 Kings 19:3-181KI 19:3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in
Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 1KI 19:7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the
mountain of
God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1KI 19:10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 1KI 19:11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1KI 19:14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 1KI 19:15 The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the
Desert of
Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over
Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over
Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in
Israel–all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” (Elijah was an ordinary man with an out of the ordinary job, and that was to serve an extraordinary God) He was scared, he was tired, he was overwhelmed . But He was God’s man
Peter is kind of the bible’s mister foot in mouth disease man. Mister impulsive. But look at what he does with Jesus.
MT 14:28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” MT 14:29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” MT 14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
This is not ordinary, this is not normal, this is spectacular.
You say that these are bible stories. Well, let me tell you about Paul, I met him last week at college.He told me his story then gave me his biography which I read that night at college. Paul spent time in institutions, reform school, goal, he was a hard drinker and alcoholic a chain smoker, dyslexic, violent, divorced hey the list could go on.But God uses him as a pastor in one of our largest churches. He is Pastor for Pastoral care at O’Connor Baptist Church in
Canberra.
Paul’s testimony is of a God who lifted him up through the darkest and hardest parts. Even through church discrimination, to be a special part of God’s kingdom.
Now what has all this to do with us?Are you on a mountain now, questioning God?Are you at the edge of the boat ready to step out for Jesus?Are you like Abraham and ready get involved in something new, are you like Paul, who felt useless but God wants to use you?
If you are not any of these, I pity you. What? Yep, these are scary places to be but hugely exciting and I suspect God is placing us at crossroads to be useful to Him. It is up to us to listen to the still small voice, step out of the boat, pick up our resources and move. All of us are useful to God, and He is placing us in scary places to be used by Him.
Genesis is about God’s people. It is about God revealing himself to his people. It is about how they react to that revelation, how do we react to God’s message today.
This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 8:33 pm and is filed under Sermons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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