“The Call of God”
Notes
Transcript
I would like to begin by asking –
Who do you trust and why (take answers)
We trust those we love
Trust means = to believe strongly in someone to do good, to not doubt their good intentions
To entrust yourself without doubt or fear.
Trusting in God is to believe in the reliability and truth of God, to believe in the ability or strength of God. To know and experience His Attributes.
Prov. 3:5-6 – To Trust – to acknowledge God in everything in all your ways.
Trusting God is a manifestation of Faith; it is intertwined with how we respond to God.
We base this TRUST on the faithfulness of God and His Word.
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Faith/ Trust/ Believe
We know the Bible is true: FACES
Fulfilled prophecy, archeological evidence, consistency of the scriptures; extra biblical writings, scientific evidences.
The Bible is how God has chosen to reveal Himself to us.
Review
We have covered 4 “Cs”
Creation
Corruption
Catastrophe
Confusion
Calling
Can you see God? in Creation, judgment/ Mercy (The flood and Noah Ark)
Can you see the salvation of the Lord?
Close your eyes, with your mind’s eye and with your heart
Can you see God, do you believe He exist?
Can you see the promises of Heaven?
Can you see Jesus on the Cross?
This is how God proves He loves you! Romans 5:8
We can see God through His love for us
Jeremiah
1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
1 John 5:1-4 Our Faith
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
My greatest request for you kids is that you can see God/Jesus and that you can experience the Holy Spirit as we journey through the bible stories, as we pray and see God moving in our lives and your faith becomes stronger in every step of the way.
THE CALLING OF GOD
Name me some of the greatest we have read about in the Bible. Get responses:
1 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
– Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen.
Faith shows us the reality of what we hope for the evidence of things we cannot see.
We hope for A heavenly kingdom with God ruling and reigning – no sin, imperishable, immortal, no pain, no death *Life everlasting.
Q- Who can Name – some of the greatest men/ women in the Bible? Get responses
Moses was a lawgiver
Noah built a large boat with his hands
David was a king
Daniel, Elisha, Elijah, were prophets
With the exception of Jesus Christ, Abraham is probably the most important person in the Bible.
OT – the most chapters, stories 14 chapters.
NT – 2 in NT Romans, 1 in Galatians
Abram was called the “Friend of God”
Q- Let me ask you … can you be a lawgiver, a prophet, a king of Israel?
We can be like Abraham
we can be people of FAITH, a people who can hear the Lord speak;
God speaks though his word, through prayer, through opportunities,
We can hear what the Lord wants us to do, and to do it.
The journey may not always be easy, but there is simplicity ;
It is One voice, and One who guides you.
1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
V1- The Lord said, — God is the One who saves
Romans 10:13.
God is called Abram to follow Him to a new Land
1. He is commanded to leave his country – the Ur of Chaldeans (Turkey)
A land of luxury - It was watered by the two great rivers, and its rich soil produced corn and date-palm crops in abundance. There were apples, grapes, pomegranates, and tamarisks growing wild. It was no small thing to leave a country like that and set off across the Arabian desert to an unknown and presumably less desirable land. Yet this is what God told Abram to do. He said, “Leave your country.…”
2. He is commanded to leave his family and relatives
Community, acceptance, trade and prosperity
Comfort
3. To Leave his father’s house.
that is, his immediate relations. It would not have been so bad perhaps if they could all have migrated as a clan, for then Abram would have had company and a measure of support and protection. But no! He was being asked to leave these too—leave his father and mother, his brothers and sisters, his uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, grandfathers, and grandmothers.
Safety
Why? Perhaps SPIRITUAL GROWTH, a plan and purpose.
Does this sound familiar? It should, for it is the call of Christ to each of his followers:
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
Go – To a land I will show you. (no Map)
Do you think this was easy?
Abram was called to a decisive separation from his past
The call of God always includes separation from old things.
2 Cor 5:17
It is a call to holiness. To be separate from the world, to be the salt and light. To be in the world but not of the world.
V2-3 - The call of God to Abram includes:
Two promises:
1. To show the land of his future prosperity, Legacy
2. By his prosperity - His Faith/ Obedience
The whole earth would be blessed
His faith (obedience) would be famous
Other will be blessed, by blessing them
All the families on earth would be blessed
God will curse those who treat you with contempt
Romans – “Vengeance is mine saith the Lord”
Remember love is the ear mark of the Christian. God is seen through love
V 4 – Abram’s obedience
Was Abram perfect?
Do we always do the right thing, all the time?
Is our obedience perfect?
We all sin and fall short of God’s glory Romans 3:23
Paul used Abraham is an example of Salvation by Faith and not by works.
Abram is the father of Faith.
Abram was called by God from the UR of Chaldees
Abram went to Haran …
Abram took his father with him
It was a partial obedience
His father worshipped idols
Maybe his dad said, “You are not leaving me behind”
- Love for his dad, felt a responsibility to take care of him
- Abram father died and
Sometimes our Faith is weak
God calls Abram for the second time.
God is calling is still there!
Abram – get out of the country, leave your Father’s house
God is faithful even when you are not faithful
The God Grace gives you many second chances, but you can miss some callings.
Repentance – come back to God
Spiritual growth
V5- Abraham – packs up everything a follows God.
Read Hebrews 11:5-6
5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Faith pleases God
He wants you to come
He wants you to believe He exists
He wants to reward you when you seek Him
Read Hebrews 11:7-13
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Obedience means acting on what God calls you to do
Putting God’s word into action
living a holy life
shining your light
being salty.
In Conclusion:
We all have an invitation to follow God
God has a purpose for your life.
God has a calling for each one of you.
It’s not always about a separation from (though many must bear)
but a separation too –
To God, to be different than the world.
To do God’s work, to serve in the body of Christ
To love the lost
To be a witness, being a blessing to others
To a manifold of blessings.
29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God, 30 will be repaid many times over in this life, and will have eternal life in the world to come.”
