Abram - From Comfort to Called

Title:  From Comfort to Called

Elevator Summary:  

Focus Statement:  

God may ask you to leave your current comfort and step into into a greater calling

Sometimes the calling we receive is not easy, comfortable, or without challenges. We need to continue to obediently follow and trust that God plan is the best path for our lives.

That’s how sanctification works.

Function Statement:

Pray this week about what God’s next best step for your life is.

Tweetable Phrase:  

Scripture:  

Main Text:  

God calls Abram: Gen 12:1-5

Example of Wesleyan belief of Prevenient Grace - God reached out to Abram, He takes the first step in the relationships

Parallel to Kyle Ray’s encouragement for me to go to seminary, car dies, I obey and go to seminary.

God’s promise of offspring and land: Gen 12:6-7

Parallel to Curtis Cecil’s comment near the end of seminary “when are you going to quit your job? If you don’t quiet, God will quit it for you”

Covenant for a child (passing between sacrificed animal): Gen 15:1-21

Abram / Sarai doubt (Ishmael): Gen 16:1-16

Parallel to doubt I had with TLC, Burkley. We need to wait for God’s timing.

Covenant of circumcision: Gen 17:1-22

Promise fulfilled (Isaac) : Gen 21:1-7

Parallel to the step of faith to apply to all Wesleyan.org lead pastor spots. The Light KC kept rising to the surface no matter how many interviews I had.

Abraham’s faith tested (sacrifice of Isaac): Gen 22:1-18

Foreshadows God’s sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. Just as Abram was willing to give up everything for God, God did give up everything (his Son) for us.

Parallel to Frontline. It felt like I was at the finish line of the journey, but God had other plans. The Light KC was the next call I got after the “no” from Frontline.

Supporting Text:  

Isaac has Jacob and Esau: Gen 25:19-34

Jacob has 12 sons (became 12 tribes of Israel): Gen 35:23-26

Exile in Egypt (430 years): Exodus 1:6- 14

40 years wandering in desert: Numbers 13, 14:20-24

Israel enters the promised land: Joshua 3:1-5:12

My ways are greater than your ways: Isaiah 55:8-9

Redemptive Closure (point to Jesus):  

Benediction:  

KIDS SERMON

Good morning church. My name is Ryan Hanson, and after what feels like way too long, I am so happy to be back with you all. Quick update. The move went well, we’re pseudo unpacked, and couldn’t be more excited to start developing a new “normal” routine.

I want to start today by calling the kids up front.

Welcome, I am so glad to be with you. I have a question for you.

Have you ever been asked by your parents to do something you didn’t want to do? Anyone want to share something they were asked to do that they didn’t want to?

Those things don’t sound like a lot of fun, but they probably are the best things for you. Your parents love you and want to help you make the best choices you can.

Do you know that even adults get asked to do thing they don’t want to? Like, all the time.

Do you know that God asks all of us (kids and parents) to do things as well, sometimes things we don’t want to do.

There is a story in the in the Bible about a man named Abram. God asked him to leave his home town, his family, and everything he knew.

Do you think Abram would want to leave everything?

I would imagine that Abram didn’t want to leave the comforts of his life, but the bible says in Genesis 12:4

Genesis 12:4 NIV

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

Later the bible says in Genesis 17:1.

Genesis 17:1 NIV

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.

Do you know what blameless means?

It means that God called Abram to put God first, to do whatever God asked Abram to do even if it didn’t seem easy, fun, or like something he wanted to do.

God calls us to do the same thing.

In my family my kids want to be treated like adults.

Do any of you want to be treated like an adult?

I tell that that if they want to be adults, they need to be mature.

Can anyone tell me what mature means?

I tell my kids being mature is “doing what is right, even when you don’t want to”

We’re all called to be mature. If it’s your parents asking you do something you don’t want to because it is best for you, or if it is the Holy Spirit asking you to do something, God wants us to say “yes” and do it, even if it is not easy, not fun, or we just don’t want to do it. We need to trust that God wants the best for us.

Can we do that?

Thanks for joining me this week. You can go with JoBeth to your class now.

ME/INTRO 

Good morning!!!  My name is Ryan Hanson and for the first time I can say that I have the honor of serving here at The Light KC as the lead pastor.  I’m so glad to be here with you and that you’re here with us, and I want to extend a special welcome to those joining us online. We hope your doing well and hope to see you in person in the coming weeks. 

Before we talk about today’s passage, I want to say thank you. As this is my family’s official first week as member’s of this community, we couldn’t feel more welcome, more loved, or more encouraged. Knowing we were moving into such an amazing community has made this transition so much easier.

As we start our journey together, I think our first series should be centered around something we’re all experiencing right now … CHANGE. I’m titling our sermon series “WORK IN PROGRESS” because that is what we all are. The process God uses to guide us through the changes He wants us to make is a fancy church word “Sanctification”. It basically means that once we accept Jesus as our savior the Holy Spirit enters our lives, the Holy Spirit starts the process of cleaning our our heart and making us more and more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit identifies and convicts us of areas that need some work and lovingly guides through the CHANGES He wants us to make in our lives. Over the next 5 weeks we’ll be looking at five biblical characters that were each asked by God to make some huge CHANGES in their lives to advance God’s Kingdom. My prayer is that as we dive into these character’s lives and stories we can see how God is not only asking the same of us, but inviting us all into the process of becoming more like Jesus and into the people He needs us to be to do the Kingdom work that He has planned in advance for us.

The first character we’re going to dive into is Abram, later known as Abraham. We’ll start in Genesis 12. We’ll have the scripture on the screen, but if you have a Bible with you, or Bible app on your phone, I’d encourage you to turn to the passage and follow along. There is nothing that replaces having God’s word in your hand. As you turn there I want to give some background on where we’re at in the Old Testament story.

God created everything in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 and it was good. In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve gave into temptation and sin entered the world. In Genesis 4 we have the first murder where Adam and Eve’s son Cain, killed his brother Abel due to jealousy. Genesis continues by describing how the world became wicked and God cleansed it through a flood, but saved Noah and his family because Noah was righteous and God was going to use Noah’s family to start over. Eventually, the people rebelled again. Instead of living the life that God called them to live, they decided to try to get to heaven themselves and in Genesis 11 they built the tower of Babel. This is where God confused their languages and scattered them across the world. It is after the people of the world had their languages confused and were scattered across the world that we meet Abram, a man 75 years old, living in Harran with his wife Sarai, no children, and with his extended family.

And it is in Genesis 12 that Abram’s life changes forever.

Let’s start in Verse 1, It reads...

Genesis 12:1–5 NIV

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “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. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

It is here where I personally start to empathize with what Abram is going through. You see it was about 10 years ago that I was in a similar position to Abram. I had volunteered in youth groups for almost a decade, was on staff as the youth director at a large church, and it was at that point that the lead pastor asked if we could meet every 6 weeks in a mentoring relationships. I didn’t really know what that meant, but accepted anyway. He talked about all kinds of things, we got to know each other better, and he talked a lot about the church. It turned out he was an engineer turned pastor and wanted to mentor me because he thought that I had what it takes to follow in his footsteps. After a while of meeting, I must have passed whatever tests he was giving me, because he challenged me to go to seminary. To leave my career as an engineer, risk everything I had worked for, and go in a direction with my life full of nothing but unknowns.

In Verse 4, we see that Abram immediately obeyed the call. Verse 4 says, “So Abram went”, he left everything when God called him and followed with no concrete plan as to what the future held, only a promise from God.

Ten years ago, I did not have had the faith of Abram. I did not immediately quit my job, and was not so easily convinced that going to seminary was the CHANGE God had for me.

WE 

Have you ever felt a “still small voice” from the Holy Spirit asking you to leave something that you enjoyed? Something you felt good doing? Something you felt successful at? Something you felt comfortable with?

I know when I do, my first thought is unfortunately, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

But just as Jim Collins writes in his seminal business book “Good to Great”

“Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”

Jim Collins - Good to Great

Yet, as Jim Collins points out, how many of us are not living the “great lives” that God created us to live, because the enemy has convinced us that our comfortable, easy, fun life is “good enough”?

Going back to the call I recieved to leave my job and go to seminary full time, I was scared of losing the comfort that I had with my job. I had just been promoted to sales leader. I liked the security of the paycheck I was getting. I knew that I was good at what I did, there was no risk of losing the job, and the job payed very well. I had a job that allowed me to never worry about money, and I liked that. It wasn’t perfect. I was working 70-80 hours per week, but I was managing the extra hours, working from 9-midnight every night after my family had gone to bed. I had convinced myself that since I wasn’t sacrificing family time, only a bit of sleep, the security of the job and pay justified my staying there.

Yet, God always knows better.

I told some of you at the Q&A we had last time I was down here, but the story behind how I ended up going to seminary is one of God directly intervening in my life. One Wednesday my wife and I were driving to the youth group I was leading. It was the week that applications were due to seminary. My wife asked me what I was going to do. Sarcastically, I said, “I’m not going to be a pastor, I make too much money to go into ministry full time.” At that moment my 2-year old, still under warranty, never had a problem Ford F150 died. It shut off. Engine went dead. Dash lights turned off. We were rolling. Luckily the brakes still worked. We stopped. I looked at my wife in shock. I turned the key backwards and then forwards again. The truck started and went on to hit 100,000 miles w/o another issue.

Needless to say, Abram left his comfortable life with just the call to something greater. I was a bit more stubborn, but did end up applying for and getting accepted into seminary. But even with a pretty direct confirming act from God, I did not go all the way. I decided I could make seminary work while keeping my 70-80 hour / week job and still find a way not to neglect my family. I thought I knew best.

God wan’ts done yet though. Just like God repeated his promise to Abram in Genesis 12:6-7 to give the land of Canaan to his offspring, during seminary God reminded me that being bi-vocational was not in His plans for my life. A fellow seminary student, Curtis, once asked me when I was going to quit my job. I don’t remember how I responded, but I assume I gave him a sarcastic answer probably equivalent to what I said to my wife. What he replied with, I will never forget. He said to me, “God is not calling you to be bi-vocational. If you don’t quiet your job, God will quit it for you.”

Yet, I was undeterred and continued the bi-vocational life throughout seminary and post seminary.

Which begs the question...

Where in your life do you think that you know better than God? What do you know God wants you to do, but you are unwilling to 100% hand over to Him?

Abram may have left the comfort of his life in Haran, but like us, he had doubts.

GOD 

Let’s pick back up in Genesis 16. Abram has been in Canaan for 10 years and is now 85. Starting in verse 1 we read.

Genesis 16:1–4 NIV

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

As having children was hugely important to survival back in those days, it was not an uncommon practice for a wife to use a servant as a surrogate. Yet, Abram and Sarai knew that it was not God’s plan.

And as everything tends to do, when done against God’s plan or against God’s timing, things did not go well.

Continuing in Verse 4 we read.

Genesis 16:4–6 NIV

He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

I find it hard to blame Abram and Sarai. They were getting really old, 85 is way past child bearing years. It was common practice to use surrogates in those days. And, they had waited 10 years since God originally promised them a child.

I don’t know about you, but when I get impatient, I tend to try to force the resolution that I want to happen as well.

My story continues in much the same path. I was serving at churches part time while still keeping my job at Trane. Things were crazy but I was managing. All was going well until I got a new boss. The culture tanked and working at Trane quickly became miserable. We were asked to do even more with even less. Decisions were made by edict with no input or ability to question. It was tough going to work each day, BUT I was still making good money so I kept on. I suffered for 3 years, doing what I could, but watching the group I had poured 20 years into slowly deteriorate.

God finally had me in a spot where I was ready to start looking for a full time ministry job. But when I started sending resumes out to the churches in the area I was falling flat, and it was quickly getting frustrated. I was applying to everything. I was turned down for student ministries roles, even though I was told I crushed the interview and my 20 years of experience would serve them well. I was turned down for executive pastor roles, even though I had 20 years business experience, an MBA, and an MDIV and was told I interviewed the best of the candidates. I was turned down for lead pastor roles, saying I had everything needed, but they wanted someone with previous lead pastor experience.

Like Abram and Sarai, I was frustrated and couldn’t understand God’s timing. I felt a strong call, like Abram and Sarai recieved, but doors were closing.

God was teaching me a lesson through the frustration...

God is faithful and may not give us what we want, when we want, but He does give us what we need, when we need it.

When Abram (now Abraham) was 100 and Sarai (now Sarah) was 90, they had the son that God promised, Isaac. Genesis 21 reads

Genesis 21:1–7 NIV

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

God, as always, followed through with His promise. He provided Abraham and Sarah a son. But before God used Isaac to fulfill His promise to turn Abraham into a great nation, Abraham had to pass one more test.

In Genesis 22:1-18 God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son back to God, giving back the one thing he had been waiting so long for. In faith, Abraham took his only son up a hill, laid him on the altar, and prepared him to be sacrificed. In Genesis 22:12, God sent an angel to stop Abraham before he sacrificed his son, but starting in verse 15 told Abraham

Genesis 22:15–18 NIV

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Abraham showed amazing faith in God’s promise, lived out through his obedience to God’s will.

Because of that obedience, and through his son Isaac, God fulfilled His original promise to make Abraham into a great nation.

Isaac had two sons; Jacob and Esau: Gen 25:19-34

Jacob has 12 sons that became the 12 tribes of Israel: Gen 35:23-26

Those twelve tribes were exiled in Egypt for 430 years: Exodus 1:6- 14

After God freed the Israelites from slavery through Moses, Israel spent 40 years wandering in desert: Numbers 13, 14:20-24

But led by Joshua, Israel entered the promised land fulfilling God’s covenant with Abram: Joshua 3:1-5:12

My story ends as Abraham’s story ends. God had brought me to a point where I could no longer continue on my strength alone. I had juggled a part time ministry job, a 70-80 hour per week secular job, a family of 5 for nearly 10 years. I no longer had the strength to continue. In an act of faith I decided to stop applying only to churches that were near me, near my family, and in roles that I would be comfortable with. I applied to all the open positions at Wesleyan.org. And whereas a bunch of churches reached out and I had 3+ interviews per week for months, this churhc, The Light KC, was the one church that God kept pointing me to. I am so glad that He did. It has been a crazy last 10 year, but I have a deep feeling that God was using that time, just as He was with Abraham, to CHANGE me into the person I am today, equipping me for the tasks that lay ahead.

A Bible commentator, W.G. Williams summed up Abraham’s story in a way that I find very helpful. He writes:

“God still could have told Abram where he was to go. But perhaps God thought the best way for Abram’s faith to grow was in the dark. Often, the more we know, the less we trust. It is never easy to surrender the known in order to embrace the unknown. Abram needed most to learn to trust God.”

W.G. Williams - Genesis: A Commentary for Biblical Students

God took Abram away from his comfortable life and called him to something greater.

God took me from from comfortable life and called me to this church.

YOU 

I want to encourage you. God wants you to have a great life, full of love and joy and peace. But God also wants to work with and through you to seek and save the lost. At times we will be asked by God to choose to leave the GOOD things that bring us comfort to partner with Him to do His GREAT Kingdom work now. He did for Abraham. He did for me. I believe God is calling each of us to leave behind some of the COMFORTS of this life to accept His CALLING to serve Him.

So I ask you.

What comforts in your life are keeping you from accepting the calling God is placing on your life?

What is the next best step you can take to follow God’s leading in your life?

WE / JESUS 

I am excited to see what God has planned for each and every one of you as we walk this journey together. I can’t wait to get to know each of you, your stories, and do anything I can to help you take the ABRAHAM SIZED STEP OF FAITH from COMFORT to CALLED.

PRAYER 

Will you join me in prayer...

SONG 

King and Country - Burn the Ships

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOVrOuKVBuY

BENEDICTION 

When it comes down to it, that’s what we’re all called to do. Step away from our old lives and wholeheartedly follow Jesus no matter where He leads. We’re called to burn the ships of our old lives so there is no going back.

Ephesians 4:22–24 NIV

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

This week let’s all follow Abraham’s example, choose to take the HUGE step of FAITH, leaving the COMFORT of our past lives, and stepping into God’s CALLING to live a life of faith, obediently following the leading of the Holy Spirit, not matter where He calls us to go.

Have a great week.

God in peace.

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