Beginnings: How Can We Be Part of God's Plan?

Rev. Dr. Buford Edwards II

Beginnings • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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When we were kids, mistakes were magically fixed with a “do-over.” As adults, God knows we still need “do-overs.” Good thing the Bible begins with a book called “Genesis.” It is not merely the beginning—it tells the story of “new-beginnings.” Generation after generation—Adam, Noah, and Abraham—God gave second chances. Perhaps it’s time for a reboot for you, your church, or your community!

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

Good morning and welcome back!

This morning if you will, start turning in your Bibles to .

This morning we are going to finish up our little “mini-series” on Genesis and “Beginnings” by looking first at a passage in and then skipping over to to see the completion of the actual passage.

And if you recall, this whole series has really been about finding our purpose and our identity in God, which we spent the last few weeks discussing.

And the conclusion that I hope we all have come to is that our identity in God is found through our relationship with Jesus Christ.

First, establishing a relationship with Jesus and then after that, actually maintaining that relationship with Jesus.

And that second part of that is what we will be looking at this morning in the story of the humble beginnings of Abraham, who is known as the Father of Faith.

And the thing about Abraham—or Abram as he is still called in our passage this morning, is that God had a specific plan and Abraham accepted God’s invitation to be part of that plan.

And this morning, we need to also know that God still has a specific plan—a plan for each and every one of us as individuals and also a plan for all creation.

God’s plan began when He spoke the universe into creation, which we studied about three weeks ago.

And that plan was messed up by Adam, Eve, and Satan, which we looked at last week.

But we also looked last week at how God already knew what was going to happen and already shaped the plan so that He could fix what we broke.

And of course it was at His own expense, sacrificing Jesus Christ to correct what we had broken.

To give us that “do-over” that we are all looking for.

And I will also take it a step further, in that every single time that we mess up, every single time we wander from God and throw a kink in the plan, God has already anticipated it and already provided a way to fix it, we just have to be willing to accept what God is offering us.

Which brings us to the question we need to be asking this morning:

Do we want to be part of God’s plan?

This morning, ask yourself, do I really want to be part of God’s plan?

And that is a very valid question because in my experience I have seen a lot of people who will say they want to be part of God’s plan, but when it comes to actually executing and taking the steps to be part of the plan, their lack of seriousness about it shines through.

And the reality is, God’s plan is going to be executed whether we are active part of it on God’s side or not.

So we need to do some soul searching this morning and determine whether we want to be a part of it or not.

And if the answer is “yes” and you really mean it, then listen up because we are going to talk about how we can be part of God’s plan.

And we are going to do so through the story of the beginnings of Abraham’s life as a follower of God.

So, if you have found in your Bibles, I’d invite you to stand with me as I read.

Starting in verse 1 . . .

Scripture Focus

Genesis 12:1–8 NIV - Anglicised

1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2 “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. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. 6 Abram travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he went on towards the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

God Calls Abraham ()

Now, where we are starting is the very beginning of God’s relationship with Abraham.

And again the passage starts out with God telling Abraham something . . .

Genesis 12:1–3 NIV - Anglicised

Genesis 12:1-

Now, this in itself is absolutely amazing if we think about it.

Before this, Abraham had no exposure to God (that he knew).

Abraham was from a village called Ur.

He was a Chaldean, a pagan living in the Mesopotamian basis area.

He didn’t know who God was or what God was all about.

But God approached him and spoke with him.

And when God spoke, Abraham immediately recognized that this was not just a dream or some bad Camel’s milk he drank the night before.

He knew without a doubt that his creator was speaking to him.

No one had to come and tell Abraham, he knew it instinctively because his very soul was being connected with God.

And if we were going to be honest, when we quiet ourselves enough to listen, we also know when God is speaking to us.

We may dismiss it and try to hide from it, but we know and we also know what God is telling us.

He is telling us to accept Jesus.

He is telling us to accept His call.

He is telling us all sorts of things, but we just don’t listen.

Well, Abraham listened to what God told him.

And God told him to leave your country, leave your people, leave your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

In other words leave everything you have ever known, follow me into the wilderness to a place you don’t know where is even at, and just trust me.

And that’s a big ask, but there is also a big reward...

Genesis 12:2–3 NIV - Anglicised

2 “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. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 12:

In other words, you Abraham, will be the father of all blessings that are bestowed on the earth.

He will actually be the common descendant of all of God’s followers from that point forward.

So, what does Abraham do?

Genesis 12:4 NIV - Anglicised

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

So, here this old man is, leaving everything he has ever known, and following a God that he had just met, to a place he didn’t even know where he was going off to.

And he didn’t just take off by himself . . .

Genesis 12:5 NIV - Anglicised

5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Genesis 12:

And I point this out because Abraham wasn’t just making a decision that would impact himself, he was making a decision that would have an impact on his whole family.

And his decision was based on two things, faith and trust.

Abraham had enough faith in this new God to trust Him to lead Abraham and his family.

He had enough faith and trust to become an influential part of God’s overall plan for humanity.

And as they travelled Abraham and God continued to talk to one another and deepen their relationship with one another . . .

Genesis 12:6–9 NIV - Anglicised

6 Abram travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he went on towards the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. 9 Then Abram set out and continued towards the Negev.

Genesis 12:6-

Genesis 12:6–8 NIV - Anglicised

Abraham Believed God ()

So, after this Abraham continued to travel and in the second half of chapter 12, we see Abraham spending some time in Egypt and having some issues there.

Then in chapter 13, a dispute arises between Abraham’s servants and Lot’s and they go their separate ways.

Then in chapter 14, Lot gets into trouble and Abraham has to come and rescue him.

And then we pick back up with our text in chapter 15.

Genesis 15:1 NIV - Anglicised

1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

Genesis 15:1-6

Now, this vision comes to Abraham, after all of these troubles in Egypt and with Lot and he is getting a little bit discouraged.

Things are not going as perfectly as Abraham had expected and thought they would.

The journey is tough, the opposition to him is tough, and frankly he was feeling a bit alone.

Not much different than we do at times.

And God, being God knows this and knows that Abraham needs a bit of encouragement and a bit of a reminder of things.

So God tells him, do not be afraid Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.

And I am going to tell you something, God is also those things to us as well.

He may not show up in a vision every night to remind us of that, but that is one reason this is recorded in His Word.

To remind us that we do not have to be afraid.

To remind us that God is our shield.

To remind us that God is our very great reward.

We though have to have the faith and trust in God to believe it and hold on to it.

And I really don’t think I have to tell anyone in here that times will get tough.

We all know that.

But I think we need to constantly be reminding each other that we do not need to fear, because God is with us.

But Abraham, like we do, question God because he cannot see what God sees.

He cannot fathom or understand a way that things things God has promised will ever come to pass.

He says to God . . .

Genesis 15:2–4 NIV - Anglicised

Genesis 15:2–5 NIV - Anglicised

2 But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Genesis 15:2-

So, the problem is Abraham is old, has no children and his wife is too old to have children and you can’t grow a nation if no children are born.

So, he decides (notice it was his decision and not what God told him) that he would leave everything to one of his servants, Eliezer.

And before Abraham can mess this up, God stops him . . .

Genesis 15:5 NIV - Anglicised

5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

And it is at that point that Abraham really believes that God is serious about this, so . . .

Genesis 15:6 NIV - Anglicised

6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

God’s Promise to Abraham ()

Again, Abraham, believed in God.

Abraham had faith in God.

And, Abraham trusted God.

Not the church, not the denomination, not the preacher, not society. He trusted God.

And he followed God first and foremost.

And the rest of that chapter we see this trust being confirmed by a covenant between Abraham and God.

And that covenant represented their agreement between one another.

God promised Abraham these things and Abraham promised to trust and follow God.

Altar Call

And that is the last point I need to make this morning.

Did you know that God also offers us a covenant?

Now, Covenant is more than just a contract.

We can break contracts, but a covenant cannot be broken.

In Bible days, covenants were sealed with blood, which is why we see the sacrifice taking place here.

And if any party broke the covenant, the penalty was death.

That is how serious it is.

And for us, we already are under the penalty of a death sentence, brought on by sin.

But God offers us a covenant of eternal life.

And we can choose to enter into that covenant or not.

And we can also choose to break the covenant that we have previously made with God.

And when we do, the death sentence we have been under returns.

Not by God’s choosing but by our own.

Remember in the beginning I asked how can we become part of God’s plan?

First, entering into and maintaining a covenant relationship with God.

Secondly, by placing our faith and trust in God.

Third, by following God.

That is how it’s done and we are free to choose whatever we want.

So, this morning, the question is, what do we want?

Do we want to continue as we are currently Going, or do we want more?

Do we want to be part of the plan this morning?

And if we do, then what are we willing to do to make it a reality?

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