Getting relationships Right

How do I get my relationship with God right?

We are stepping into a new 5 part series that will take us to summer.

The title for the five part series is called getting relationships right.

We are going to dive into our relationships with family with friends and others and even into our romantic relationship and living in singleness.

Tonight we are going to be diving into How do we get our relationship right with God.

Loving God is a big deal and can actually flow into all of the other relationships that you have in life can flow from the way that we love God.

Have you ever been asked to or told to do something that you did not want to do?

I remember when I first got my drivers lisense and was happy to get it.

Execpt my parents took it as an oppertunity to have me drive them all over the place.

I would randomly get asked to take them to the store our to the bank.

Maybe in a more series note that God has asked you to do something you did not want to do.

When I was growing up I felt that God was asking me to spend more time with him instead of playing video games.

Recently This message spoke to me where God wants me to be intental to spend more time with people and with him then time watching videos on my phone.

Tonight we are going to dive into a story in the Bible where this man had the oppertuinity to follow what God was calling him to do even if he did not want to.

Tonight we are talking about the story of Abraham.

When we first meet Abraham in the bible God gives him a promise.

He tells him to leave his home land and to follow Gods lead and in turn God will turn Abraham and his family into a great nation.

He had the choice to either stay where he was comfortable or to trust God in where he was leading him.

He chose to Follow God and trust him with what was next.

Along the way God promises them a son.

The promise is not fulfilled right away so they try to take matter into their own hands.

God did not abandon them when they made this mistake but showed faithfulness and love through them by giving them there son Issac.

The way we can best Love God is by putting out faith in God.

Faith is trusting, based on evidence that leads to obedience.

In Abraham story we get to see that.

Genesis 22:1–2 NIV

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

God told Abraham that he would become a great nation

Was God turning on Abraham? Absoulty not! God tested Abraham.

Even when it does not make sense we can trust in the character and the promises of God.

Genesis 22:3–8 NIV

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

At this point in the Bible lambs where used as the sacrifce to God.

So Issac was being to be a little wierded out when he saw that there was no lamb for this burnt offering.

At this point Abraham is also probaly feeling all of the emotions with going up there with his son.

But Abrahams faith did not waver, becuase even when it does not make sense we trust in the character and promises of God.

Genesis 22:9–14 NIV

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

Abraham had been faithfully following what God told him to do.

Was Abraham perfect? no, But he continued to prove the he trusted in the character and promises of God.

Faith is continuing ti trust in God even when it feels confusing.

Faith is knowing that God will work out a purpose through the pain.

He had seen God show his faithfullness in his life and knew he would not let him down.

We can be faithful to God because he has been faithful to us.

Genesis 22:15–19 NIV

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 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, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” 19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

All of this is cool because it shows a preview of what God was going to do through Jesus!

Both jesus and Issac were loved by their fathers and where there only Sons.

Both carries wood on their backs

Both were willing sacrifices

Both of there stories ended up in life!

We can be faithful to God because he is faithful to us.

Talk about how Petes faith inspires me by the way he walks with God.

So if you want to love God will all you are and to get in right relationship with him is to commit to folowing him in everything he asks us to do.

We wont be perfect in that but to continue to trust and have faith in him.