Eyes Up, Feet Moving: Following God’s Lead

Acknowledge veterans in the congregation.

Introduction

Emergency Room Doctor Story "Emergency room doctors often talk about being 'ready for anything.' They can't know what's coming through those doors next, but they can be prepared for whatever it might be. Their education, training, and experience all come together in those crucial moments when split-second decisions matter. What looks like quick thinking to others is actually years of preparation, experience, failure, success, all coming together in one moment for the help and benefit for the one in need.

But here's what's interesting - even the best-prepared ER doctor still needs three things: they need to be ready to act, they need to constantly communicate with their team, and they need to be alert to recognize when a situation is changing. In our passage today, we're going to see how these same elements play out in our spiritual lives: decisive action; stepping out in faithful obedience; seeking God’s direction in prayer; recognizing these divine moments.

If you have your Bibles or on your devices, would you turn to Genesis 24, we are going to read verses 1-26 and 61-67. If you are willing and able, would you stand with me as I read our text this morning.

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Thank you. Please be seated.

I. Stepping Out in Faithful Obedience

Abraham's willingness to trust God's plan

God made a covenant with him. He waited over 75 years to receive the promise of a son. He’s now entrusting all that he has to his son and wants to do what he can do to honor his part of the covenant.

God is giving him the land that he’s in. Isaac is not to go to Abraham’s hometown nor is he to be married to a Canaanite.

God has provided for Abraham and God is going to provide for Isaac. God’s past faithfulness demands our present trust.

The servant's immediate response to the call

Called a senior servant (vs.2)

Characteristics about this servant

Immediate Obedience: Responds w/out hesitation to Abraham; takes action; questions are for clarification not dissension

Faithful to Mission: Keeps focus on task; Doesn’t get distracted; Shows integrity to Abraham’s wishes; No compromise

Prayerful Dependance: Seeks God’s guidance; Prays specifically; Acknowledges God’s sovereignty; Praise as prayer answered

Wise Discernment: Criteria based on behavior (our doing flows from our beliefs); Assess criteria through practical observation; looks for evidence of kindness and servanthood; evaluates character and capability

Patient Diligence: Waits at the well for God’s timing; observes before speaking; takes time to verify God’s leading; Doesn’t rush important decisions

Excellent Communication: Clearly explains mission; Reps Abraham well; Tells the truth/full story; Shows respect and courtesy

Humble Service: Not about him but Abraham/Isaac whom he is serving; Gives God glory for success; Not about him, his satisfaction is wrapped in his master being satisfied

Bold Initiative: Measured/Appropriate Action; Asks directly; Moves forward with clear direction; Courage in unfamiliar territory

Grateful Heart: Worships God when prayers answered; Acknowledges God’s faithfulness; Appreciation for others; Celebrates God’s provision

Sense of Urgency: Doesn’t delay; presses forward in mission til completion; maintains momentum towards the goal

What we can actively do: commit, prepare, move

These characteristics beautifully model what it means to be both a faithful servant and an effective agent of God's purposes. They show us how to balance dependence on God with responsible action, and how to pursue God's will with both diligence and discernment.

God invites this servant to be a part of the process. Abraham can’t do it himself. This is an invitation for us to not only partner with others in God’s mission but also to invite others to partner with us in what God is calling us to (corporately but also specifically as it relates to us individually).

Application: Areas where God is calling us to step out. There is something that is call the “Royal Priesthood of all Believers” (1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” ). What Peter means in calling us a royal priesthood is that every believer can approach God with confidence, minister to others, share the gospel, study scripture, and serve in God’s Kingdom work. That the line of sacred/secular has been done away with, but the work we do is to the glory of God, the benefit of all, and the edification of the believers.

II. Seeking God's Direction Through Prayer

So how do we discern God’s direction for our lives?

The servant's specific prayer at the well

Genesis 24:12–14 “Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.””

Sometimes we call this a “fleece”. Sometimes we’ll throw these out because we are unsure of what to do. I’ve done this, but it’s not a practice we should fully rely on. We should seek to develop a pattern and a discernment of God’s direction

Often times our choices come down to two good things. For the follower of Jesus, more often than not we can discern between bad and good and we should choose good. But when confronted with two good options how do we choose and not succumb to paralysis through analysis?

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Bible College and choosing which next steps to take… Austria or Washington

Moving locations of the church (“God would you just make it clear…”)

Both big choices, both good choices, decision is made by faith either way… God honors it by faith

Not passive waiting, but active seeking

While the servant looked for woman who would be kind, serve him, serve his animals, he was patient and thought through the type of person he should be looking for.

Are you waiting on the Lord for an answer to prayer? Great! What are you doing in the mean time? Are you serving the community, are you serving the church, are you serving your neighbor, are you utilizing what God has given you to create human flourishing around you?

We just had a presidential election and local election. Is your candidate elected? Great, get to work. Was your candidate not elected, that’s frustrating and disappointing, but let’s get to work. There are things out of our control, but what is in our control we can seek to affect and bring the love, joy, peace, and kindness of God upon it.

I was thinking about this earlier in the week. FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS, GOD WANTED YOU AND ME HERE TO BRING ABOUT HIS KINGDOM HERE ON EARTH THAT THOSE AROUND US MIGHT EXPERIENCE A TASTE OF HEAVEN! Can you believe that!? Of all people at any point in time, He looked at you and me and said, “YES!! Put them in Kitsap in 2024 as my children, as my people called by my name, that they would sow my peace, goodness, light, and life amongst the world.” You are God’s Plan-A! I love that… it keeps me going to remember that.

Bringing our uncertainties before God

Now, we’ll encounter things out of our control, or things that we can’t fully explain. It’s those things we bring to God. The beautiful thing is that He knows what we’re navigating.

Hebrews 4:14–16 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Application: How to pray with both faith and specificity

We talked about last week how we need to make sure we separate a cognitive understanding of who God is and a relationship with God. While we can agree that God knew Abraham's actions in advance, knew what Abraham’s servant was going to say, Scripture provides ample evidence that God desires us to act out our faith and worship, regardless of His knowledge of our hearts. God wants us to pray, even though He knows what we'll say and may already have the answer in motion. He wants us to praise Him, despite knowing our feelings. God asks us to express our faith and love. It honors Him when we demonstrate these qualities He knows exist, simply because it pleases Him.

Prayer is more about us than it is about changing or moving God’s hand. Prayer does move God’s hand, but in that relational practice of prayer, God moves and our hearts become more aligned with His… not the other way around.

Prayer is primarily a transformative dialogue that aligns our hearts with God's will rather than merely attempting to change His mind, even as we remain attentive to how He responds to our petitions.

As we pray, we look for those divine appointments; the ways in which God shows up to answer our prayers

III. Recognizing Divine Appointments

The "chance" meeting at the well

Howard Hendricks, a longtime professor at Dallas Theological Seminary is attributed as saying, “The more you pray, the less coincidence you’ll see. The less you pray, the more coincidence you’ll encounter.”

Because the servant had his heart postured towards the Lord, who is the one that could control the circumstance, the servant was able to see the answer that God provided in Rebekah. Notice too that God had sent Rebekah before the servant had even begun praying… for it was even before that servant had finished praying, Rebekah comes to the well.

Rebekah's character revealed in the moment

Rebekah embodied those things that would make a wonderful partner/wife for Isaac. Hospitable, capable, holy, beautiful, gracious, giving, kind, etc.

One of things we do when we look for potential elders to help serve the church are those who are serving, giving, and leading others in ways that reflect the character and qualities of an elder. Do they love their spouse, their children, their relatives, their neighbors, do they have a reputation that reflects that of a follower of Jesus. It’s not recognize me and then I’ll do it… but what are you already doing and it reflects the work and character of God in you.

When I was asked if I want to be ordained as a minister of the Gospel, this is what we do when we recognize God’s calling on someone’s life to fill the vocation of pastor, they asked me if I wanted to be ordained or what my thoughts were on it. I was serving as a youth pastor and working another job selling medical equipment. I said, “I think God has that for me in the future, but whether that’s now or later I don’t know, I’m going to do what God has called me to do regardless if others acknowledge it or not.” The heart wasn’t flippant, it was, this is what I’m doing.

Being ready when opportunity presents itself

The Principle of Preparation… what we often call “luck” is the crossroads where deep preparation meets opportunity.

Like an athlete who trains for game day … 1000’s of reps making muscle memory/2nd nature

Developing godly character before the moment of testing

Building spiritual habits that shape our reflexes

Examples from Genesis 24

Rebekah's character was already established before the servant arrived

Her hospitality wasn't manufactured for the moment

Her willingness to serve was a lifestyle, not a one-time choice

She was ready because of who she already was

Practical Readiness Looks Like:

Daily spiritual disciplines that shape our responses

Knowledge of Scripture that informs our decisions

A prayer life that keeps us sensitive to the Spirit

Cultivating virtues that prepare us for service

Kindness becomes instinctive

Generosity becomes natural

Service becomes joy

Application: Living with spiritual alertness

Being ready to share your faith 1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”

Prepared to serve when needs arise

Quick to show compassion (this also means demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) when the opportunity presents itself.

Alert to divine appointments in:

Casual conversations

"Random" encounters

Workplace interactions

Family moments

Community needs

The couple weeks I’ve had two encounters where I wasn’t ready. Woman asking “what happens when we die” and then another person who didn’t know what a pastor was, had never heard the term, didn’t know what the church was.

The Cost of Unreadiness

Missed opportunities

Delayed responses

Spiritual hesitation

Regret over "what could have been"

Unified story that leads to Jesus.

John 4 there is an instance where Jesus meets a woman at the well and the Bible says that the disciples when they came up on Jesus talking to the woman at the well they “were surprised” to find Him talking to this woman. It is not lost on them that Genesis 24 is popping into their minds.

Jesus is inviting the woman at the well in John 4 not to an physical intimate relationship with him, but is inviting her into a divine intimate relationship with Almighty God, the maker of Heaven and Earth, the one who formed her, knows her, and loves her… so much so that God withholds nothing from her, but gives Himself completely to her.

Jesus is inviting you and me into this same relationship. The lover of our soul, the Maker, the one who gave you and me life, the one who brings meaning, purpose, and fulfillment to our lives is inviting us into this same love relationship with Him. To know Him intimately, to understand that He knows us intimately.

Come and drink from the well of eternal life… John 4:13–14 “Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.””

Jesus invites you to drink deeply from Him. Let’s pray.