Sermon Tone Analysis

Genesis 18:16-

Is God asking His angels for advice?

NO, he is using this to teach them something about Himself.

Just as He did throughout the New Testament, walking and teaching.

Even the angels don’t know everything about God! WOW! God ministers even to His angels!

Is God asking His angels for advice?

NO, he is using this to teach them something about Himself.

Just as He did throughout the New Testament, walking and teaching.

Even the angels don’t know everything about God! WOW! God ministers even to His angels!

To be known by God means to be chosen, tested, and approved.

Genesis 18:18

Good and bad results, examples...

But God continued to prepare him for what was to come until his heart was right.

So that he could be the man that commanded his children, household to keep the way of the Lord......etc

Its normal for us to read through his life and think that He is special in some way.

He was chosen by God, prepared by God and equipped by God to do God’s work, that the earth be blessed in him.

That there was something about him that makes him different than us, but the truth is that there isn’t!

Abraham messed up so many times!

Abraham has been in many situations which required correct responses.

There were more bad responses than there were good, examples...

But God continued to prepare him for what was to come.

So that he could be the man that commanded his children, household to keep the way of the Lord......etc

The thing is, God does that exact same thing for each and every one of us!

He has chosen us to be a blessing to the world.

To command our children and households that they keep the way of the Lord......etc

He continues to prepare us by giving us opportunities to respond correctly to different situations.

We have the same call, the same responsibility, the same opportunity to respond, and the same God equipping and preparing us for whats to come, so what are we waiting for church!

We have to respond from our hearts.

It has to be like a reflex, natural without having to think about it.

When we can get there, things start to change just a little bit.

God shares His plans with Abraham.

This is a big deal.

How many times has God come down in physical form and told you what His plans were?

I’ll wait.

Genesis 18:

John

We are not meant to fully know and comprehend everything there is to know about God, but we are told here that He shares His heart and His secrets with those who fear Him and obey Him.

We were created for that purpose.

We were created to fear, obey, love, worship, follow, trust in Him.

Look back at verse 20.

Who is it that cries out to God about the sin in Sodom?

All of creation was designed to be connected to its Creator.

From the earth to every one of us.

Not only do our prayers cry out to God, but goes all the way down into our DNA.

Even our blood cries out to Him.

It’s how we were made!

To need Him and seek Him and be incomplete without Him!

We see even more of that evidenced as we continue reading.

If we want to get closer to God, we have to spend time alone with Him.

It’s now only God and Abraham, heres the conversation beginning in verse 23.

Genesis 18:23

There is so much we unpack in this last half of the chapter, but as we close this morning, I really want to focus on the reason for this conversation.

Genesis 18:22-33

There is so much we unpack in this last half of the chapter, but as we close this morning, I really want to focus on the reason for this conversation.

How often do we offer God a one sided prayer?

Going down a list of our requests without taking any time to really ask and listen for what He wants from us? Do we approach humility, reverence, submission, unworthiness and fear, or do we ask things in selfishness and entitlement.

Abraham is not trying manipulate the situation.

He doesn’t just ask for what would benefit him.

Abraham is asking these questions in order to understand.

He is seeking to know God’s heart, which is the reason for all of this.

How often do we offer God a one sided prayer?

Going down a list of our requests without taking any time to really ask and listen for what He wants from us? Do we approach humility, reverence, submission, unworthiness and fear, or do we ask things in selfishness and entitlement.

Abraham is

If God had not shared His plans with Abraham, there would have been no conversation, no plea, no questions, no supplication, and no intimate interaction between them.

Everything that happens in our lives is meant to draw us closer to God.

Thats what He wants.

For us to seek Him, know Him, trust Him, love Him, need Him, and to know that His plans for us are far better than anything we could ever do for ourselves!

But in order to get there, we have to be ready to respond with total and complete dependence on Him.

The title of todays sermon is “Its All In The Reflexes”.

Thats because we have to get to a place where our natural reflex is to look to God.

But it takes work.

In sports, we call it muscle memory.

Keep doing it until you can’t get it wrong.

Although we are designed to pursue it, the sin we are born into and live in every day has a way of seeping into us and distorting our natural inclinations.

We have to keep pushing, and walking in obedience every day.

From one situation to the next, always trusting in who God is.

God’s Best Is Yet To Come to those who submit themselves and respond in faith to the one we were created to cling to.

Prayer