God's call to His Mission

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The Gospel for everyday Life

INTRODUCTION

Last week we talked about sin entering the world. When Adam sinned in the garden, that one act unleashed a powerful force that has dominated the human race. From Adam we all inherited a sinful nature and death entered the world. This presents the greatest problem with mankind, “our need to be freed from sin”. So God made this promise to Adam and Eve, ““And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15). This is the basis of God’s mission. God will overcome the evil one, God will bring triumph over sin, and God will free people from the power and slavery of sin. This entire series is about God’s mission of freeing people from the power of sin.

This week we are going to look at the beginning of this promise fulfilled. In Genesis chapter 12 God calls one man to come and participate in what is going to do. Does anyone know who this one man was? (Answer: Abraham). And God is still calling people today in the same way that He called Abraham to come and participate in His mission to reconcile the world to Himself. This message is about God using us individually to win the world to Christ. And do not think that God cannot use you. Each one of us are uniquely made and gifted to be used for God’s purposes.

The Purpose of this message: To demonstrate that God’s mission requires us to personally involved. God does not do His work alone, He does it through individuals.

Gen 12:1

Genesis 12:1 NASB95

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;

Question: What stands out to you in this first verse? What about this call on Abram’s life is communicated here?

The costs

What Abram had to give up

It costs to be a part of God’s Mission

What were his costs?

He had to leave his country

“Go forth from your country”

What were the costs to Abram in this first verse?

First he had to, ‘Go forth from his country”. What country did Abram leave? He left the land of Ur.

This was his homeland, where he had grown up. Where he had spent his entire life.

This was Abram’s Pembroke, Crofton, or Hopkinsville. It was a call to leave everything that he had known and go to an unknown place.

Do not miss God’s call on your life to leave your country and go to the place where he is calling you.

I’m not necessarily talking about going overseas as a missionary. Abram never got in a boat. I am talking to you about relocating to where God is doing a mighty work.

Many of us are far too attached to the place where we live as if that is the line drawn that we will do whatever God wants, as long as we do not have to give up our homestead, our perfect town, or our farm.

Let me emphasize this call is not just for pastors, not just for missionaries, but for all of God’s people whom He needs to move. Does that mean everyone has to move? NO. But our call is to open to whatever God wants us to do. Had Abram never moved he would have missed out on God’s great blessings because what God was going to do was not where Abram was.

Illustration: When I went to Salt Lake City, many of those church planters told me that families had moved from the Eastern United States to live in Salt Lake City to be a part of God’s mission. They were ordinary people who felt God’s call.

When Ashley and I went to the REACH conference, one pastor in Louisville told us that his church would move into a neighborhood where they were called to win those people to Christ. Do not let your house keep you from God’s call.

God called him to walk away from his relatives.

“And from your relatives and from your father’s house”

These were his uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, and even his parents. Would God call us to leave our family to be a part of what he is doing? It is very possible.

Jesus said this,

Matt 10:37

Matthew 10:37 NASB95

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

Now I want to be clear about one thing, God did not call Abram to leave his wife. And I do not believe that God would ever call a man to leave his wife and children. God is pro-family and will not call a man to separate long term from his family.

But God may require you to walk away from your extended family. God may call you to leave your mother and brothers or whatever it is.

What we leave, God gives us so much more. Abram left his family, but He gained the family of God. Abram left his country, but he gained an entire nation. Abram left his earthly father, but he gained a heavenly Father.

Jim Elliot said this, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Matt 10:37

Matthew 10:37 NASB95

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

He had to do it all by faith

“To a land which I will show you”

God did not tell Abram where he was going. Nor did God tell him what it would be like when he got there. Nor did he tell him of the struggles and the triumphs that he would experience. All Abram had to go on was the promises of God.

When God calls us to His mission he does not tell us all the details. We do not receive a road map all laid out with the turns and stops along the way. He does not tell us how hard it will be, or how rewarding it will be. He gives us just enough light to begin to walk.

God has a mission for this church. God has a reason for its existence. It is not just to come together on Sundays and give us a place to worship. There is a mission, an assignment, a task that God is calling us to do and it requires any and all that will be willing to pay the costs and come join us. It requires that we each get personally involved. It requires each one of us to walk by faith.

If your faith does not cost you, then faith will not reward you

This verse begins with this phrase, “Go forth” literally meaning in the Hebrew, “Go forth for yourself” In other words, “go forth for your own benefit”.

Abram could not experience the benefits of God, until he uprooted himself and gave up whatever it was that God was asking of him. Abram would not be blessed until he arrived in the land of Canaan.

You may not be experiencing God’s blessing in your life, because your still in the land of Ur. Your still holding onto those things that God has called you to let go of. Go forth and experiencing God’s life changing mission.

God’s Mission is about what HE is going to do through us

Genesis 12:2–3 (NASB95)

And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse.

Notice the words

“I will” referring to God

God makes it clear that this calling is all about what God is going to do

It wasn’t dependent upon Abram, or his ability to reproduce, or his skills

Abram is only in the picture because God chose Him to be the one to carry out His mission

Notice the promises God makes to Abram

God is going to make Him a great nation

God is going to bless him

God is going to make his name great

He will be a blessing

Do you think these things seemed impossible to Abram?

How was he going to be a great nation when he could not even have his first child?

Sarai was barren!

The one thing that they could not do, and God said it was going to happen

Application

Our success is not based upon our abilities, it is based upon our obedience

God’s words to Abram were already in order

All Abram had to do was get on board with it!

All Abram had to do was GO!

God’s plans for this church are already in order

This church belongs to Him

And He has things that He is going o do through this church that we cannot fathom

They are not dependent upon our abilities

They are dependent upon our obedience

God’s Protection of God’s Mission

Gen 12:3

Genesis 12:3 (NASB95)

And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse.”

God says Abram, where I am taking you, I will protect you

Abram, to the unknown you go, but I am going with you

Abram, if anyone does harm to you, I will do harm to them

Abram, those who bless you, I will bless them

What a promise!

What a thing to cling to!

To know that Abram is not going alone!

I would not dare take one step of faith without the assurance of this promise

To go without God would be a sure disaster

To go with God will assure His protection

Now that doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want

We must operate within His boundaries

But we have no reason to fear

The Spiritual Impact of God’s Mission

Gen 12:3

Genesis 12:3 (NASB95)

“And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Here was God’s promise to Abram

Abram come and with me and leave your land

Leave your family

Lave your father

Go to a place where I will show you

And I will make you a blessing to the entire world

What do you think God meant by saying Abram would be a blessing?

In the OT this would particularly pertain to fertility.

Ironically, this was the main problem for Abram and Sarai, they could not have a child (on their own).

The main thrust of this “blessing” is the ability to give life.

By God promising that Abram that he would be a blessing, He was saying that people would receive life through him

Gal 3:8

Galatians 3:8 NASB95

The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.”

Gal 3:16

Galatians 3:16 NASB95

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.

Gal 3:29

Galatians 3:29 NASB95

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

Application

God’s call to His mission was about giving life to the world!

Is there anything more glorious than being apart of something like that??

Is there anything of greater importance in this life than being used to give life?

That is why God established New Beginnings Baptist Church

This is what God called you here to be a part of

Not to hear me preach, or for us to come together

To be a part of what God is going to do through us!

CONCLUSION

What does all this mean to you?

You fit into God’s mission personally

There is a reason he has brought you here

God will use you in ways you have never dreamed if you get serious about this

It will cost everyone of us to be a part of what God is doing

Time, money, family, who knows

But the rewards that come from those costs cannot be compared

William Carey

This was a man on God’s mission

He was one of the first missionaries

And he was sent to India, where Christianity was basically non-existent

He left a thriving church, lost not one but two wives, lost a son, and suffered greatly in many other ways

Took 7 years to win his first convert

He never took his hand away from the plow

What an inspiration of a man determined to be on God’s mission

~PRAYER~