Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ Stopping For Directions

/Scripture: Genesis 11:27-12:20/

 

How do I find God’s will or His direction for my life?

Men have always been hesitant to stop and ask for directions.

They know where they are headed ultimately and that seems to be sufficient knowledge in their own estimation.

So they stumble through.

The damage that can be done, the wasted time and effort, the wrong turns that sometimes may lead us into jeopardy are the things that could be eliminated if we would understand that the will of God for our lives is in the journey not the destination.

It is in the knowledge of his heart that we gain when we choose to take our direction from him.

The destination is the same for all of us as far as God’s will is concerned.

There are no other alternative, eternal vacation options but heaven.

But he does have a different route for each of us to take and that has to do with our giftedness, our personality, the making of our character and others.

! Top Ten Reasons That God Created Eve

 

10.God worried that Adam would always be lost in the garden because men hate to ask for directions.

9.

God knew that Adam would one day need someone to hand him the TV remote.

(Men don't want to see what's ON television, they want to see WHAT ELSE is on!)

 

8.

God knew that Adam would never buy a new fig leaf when his seat wore out and would therefore need Eve to get one for him.

7.

God knew that Adam would never make a doctor's appointment for himself.

6.

God knew that Adam would never remember which night was garbage night.

5.

God knew that if the world was to be populated, men would never be able to handle childbearing.

4.

As "Keeper of the Garden," Adam would never remember where he put his tools.

3.

The scripture account of creation indicates Adam needed someone to blame his troubles on when God caught him hiding in the garden.

2.

As the Bible says, "It is not good for man to be alone!"

1.

When God finished the creation of Adam, He stepped back, scratched His head and said, "I can do better than that.

1)       Providence.

God’s working beyond my knowledge of His guidance.

/11:27 Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

And Haran became the father of Lot.

[28] *While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans*, in the land of his birth.

[29] Abram and Nahor both married.

The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.

[30] Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together *they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan*.

But *when they came to Haran, they settled there*.

32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran./

Did you ever wonder when God really begins to work in  person’s life?

I have a friend who holds a different concept of discipleship.

He maintains that God works even in the life of non-Christians to prepare them for their purpose as a child of God.

God worked in my own life in many ways prior to my knowledge.

o      My mother’s prayers

o      My grandmother’s prayers

o      My father’s disposition and core values

 

God began to work in Abram’s father’s life to move Abram closer to his destination.

a)     Grief can lessen a person’s attachments to their home.

*/While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans.

/*There can be grief associated with death, divorce or a thousand other things that make us less attached tom the things that would have once held us in a given situation or location.

I was a Grand Manan boy.

Couldn’t imagine leaving.

(Pace of life)

 

b)     Without seeking guidance Terah was guided.

- */they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan.

/*God had directed Abram’s father even though he wasn’t looking for it to go to the destination that he ultimately had for his son.

I have told my father that I am a preacher because he wasn’t.

c)      We often settle short of or for something less than God ultimately has for us.

- */they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan/*

 

 

Probably the most significant work that God does in our lives when it comes to personal guidance happens without our knowledge.

He orchestrates the circumstances of our existence, grooming by experiences, redeeming the bad and turning it to good when we look to him in submission to His will.

I would change nothing in my life as I look back.

The most painful experiences have been as beneficial as the times of greatest blessing and I am somehow a better, more prepared and insightful and empathetic.

I am grateful and at home in my own “skin” because He has worked on me.

Jesus, the Carpenter

 

My house was falling apart...

I called upon the carpenter

Quickly he came

He looked the situation over

gave an estimated cost

I gave him the OK.

Speedily he went to work

He tore down pride and

ripped into conceit

I watched in horror with

many questions

He never answered, simply

stated, "Trust me."

I saw him pull those nails of malice

And remove selfish ambition

it seemed there was nothing left.

Then he began to build

He established faith where there was nothing

hope where once there was

helplessness

I saw humility where pride

once reigned.

Slowly and carefully now he began

 to build compassion and forgiveness.

Suddenly unsteadiness attacked!

He said, "Fear Not!" and with

patience and perseverance and

faith as the main support

He steadied my home.

He's still at work today

Jesus the carpenter at work in me.

2)     Promises.

God revealing His nature and character.

Most people live beneath their privilege as children of God.

 

/12:1 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 *I will* bless you; *I will* make your name great, 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.*/

a)     We must personalize God’s promises in our own lives.

b)     It requires that we step out by faith to follow.