Blessed to Bless
Transcript
What's up, fam? How y'all doing this morning? It's good to see you guys. If it's your first time hanging out with us, my name's Matt. I'm one of the pastors here. I'm glad we clapped at the end of a song.
That was good. Yes! Yeah! All right! Praise God! I like when I get to preach because I get to listen to really good music and just sing along.
And that was really good stuff. We are in week four of our Covenant series. And here's what we're doing. We're basically walking through the big promises that God makes in the Old Testament to kind of see how do they fit in the grand, big scheme of things of God's ultimate big story. And there's a couple of things. There's a couple of things that we're trying to achieve through this series.
We're looking at it going, okay, how do all of these little stories fit into the big story? Like, what's the point? How does it all kind of work together? Also, for us as Christians, I think most of us are very comfortable reading in the New Testament and spending time studying and growing there. But sometimes when it comes to the Old Testament, we have questions about how should I actually be reading this?
What am I supposed to kind of glean from this? And so we're trying to do that in this series as well. And ultimately, we want to see how all of these promises are going to find their fulfillment in Jesus. How do these smaller stories, how these smaller promises or covenants actually fit into God's big story? So Chet started off our series a couple of weeks ago with a whiteboard on the stage.
And what Chet was trying to do was just illustrate what actually is the big storyline of the Bible. Okay, so we've actually got an image of it. But thankfully, this isn't the version that Chet drew, so you can actually read it. But this is the big storyline of the Bible, which was there is a creator God. There is a creator God who created humanity to live in perfect relationship with him. That was his intent from the very beginning, to have his people in his place, in his presence, existing forever.
That was God's design. And so he takes Adam and Eve and he puts them in a garden. And he says to them, I want you to be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth with a family that will love and will worship me. He says he wants this family to grow, this people to grow. But the problem is that Adam and Eve rebelled.
They didn't trust God. They didn't believe that God's promises to them were good. Were good enough for them. They sinned against God. And when sin entered the world, that's the fault. And it fractured that relationship forever.
The story had been changed forever. And with sin came death and sickness and shame. But God makes a promise there in the garden. He didn't make the promise to Adam and Eve. He actually makes it to the serpent. He goes, I'm going to fix this problem.
I'm going to work to restore humanity back to the place where they're my people, in my presence, in my place. And so that's the promise that God makes right there. And then you kind of trace on from Adam and Eve. You go a couple of thousand years after them. And then you end up at Noah. So you just continue down the line.
And now we're at Noah. And we looked at Noah last week. What we saw was in those thousand years, humanity just got worse and worse and worse. And to the point where God looked at humanity. And every intention of their heart was evil and wicked. But God comes and he says, Noah, I want you to build a boat.
I'm going to save you and your family. It wasn't based off of Noah being good or the most moral person. God came and promised this to Noah. And the Bible tells us that Noah was declared righteous by his faith. That God actually does have wrath for sin and for sinners. And so God wipes out humanity.
But he saves Noah. Noah and his family says, go be fruitful and multiply. When they leave the ark, it's the same thing. Go be my people in my place, in my presence. Fill the earth with a family of worshipers who will worship me. And so you continue on from Noah's line through his son Shem.
And you go a couple thousand years. And it doesn't fix the problem. And you end up at the guy that we're actually going to be looking at this morning. We're going to be talking about Abraham this morning. And not just this morning. We're actually going to spend three weeks talking about the promises that God makes to Abraham.
And here's what we're looking to do. How does the promise that God makes to Abraham today continue to move humanity forward? How does this promise get us back to the garden? How does it get us to a place where we're his people, in his place, in his presence? And we're going to look at how is this promise ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. We're going to be looking at the covenant that God makes with Abraham today.
So let me pray for us and we'll hop into the text. God, we're thankful this morning that you've given us your word. You've given us the Bible through which you reveal yourself. You tell us who we are and how we ought to live in relationship with you. And so, God, this morning, I just pray that you would make your word clear. As we look at the promise that you've given to Abraham, that it would be open to us in a fresh and a new way.
That we could ultimately see what you're doing to bring about the restoration of humanity. So, Holy Spirit, I pray that you would speak through me. I pray that you would open up your word so that we could understand it. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, grab a Bible.
You can grab one of the Bibles that are in the seats, the blue and white ones. We're just going to be on page 6. So grab it. Turn a couple of pages. We're going to be at the end of Genesis chapter 11 and the beginning of Genesis chapter 12. And right off the bat, we're kind of getting just introduced to this guy named Abraham.
So there's going to be a lot of details up front. We're not going to get bogged down in those. We just want to kind of pull out the things that are important so that we can keep moving. Okay, so Genesis chapter 11 will actually start in verse 26. Okay. Verse 26.
When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Okay. So at the beginning, we looked at the thing on the screen. That said Abraham. And then this says Abram. Okay.
It's the same guy. Later on in Genesis, God's actually going to take him and change his name and turn him into Abraham. And so I'm going to use both interchangeably today because I don't have the ability not to. So just give me some grace. I'm going to call him Abram. I'm going to call him Abraham.
Hopefully I won't call him anything else. But those two things. So this is our guy. Our guys entered the story. Verse 27. Now these are the generations of Terah.
Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran fathered Lot. Okay. So just showing some generations there. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred in Ur of the Chaldeans. Sweet name.
And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarah. And the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarah was barren. She had no child. Terah took Abram his son.
Excuse me. Terah took Abram his son and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson. And Sarah, his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. And they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
The days of Terah were 205 years. And Terah died in Haran. Okay. Tons of details. Tons of names. Let me just kind of break it down for us.
Before we do that, the last verse, verse 32, the days of Terah were 205 years. You immediately read that and you're like, wait, wait, what? Was like Terah the first superhuman? How in the world did he live that long? So we kind of have a little bit of pushback on his age.
But what we have early on in Genesis is that people lived for longer than they do now. Their lifespan was hundreds and hundreds of years. And Bible scholars give us just a couple of things to kind of help rectify this for us. The first is this. Adam and Eve had the perfect DNA. And so when they sinned, that's when sickness and disease entered into the world.
And so as they were fruitful and they were multiplying and generation after generation after generation, eventually that sickness and disease began to spread, possibly being one of the reasons why ages would start coming down. Also, the Bible is not the only ancient historical document that talks about humans living for longer periods of time. And you have in Genesis 6 this little small section where God alludes to the fact that he's actually going to begin limiting the lifespan of humans' lives. So don't get tripped up on that. These are real people in a real place. And the truth is, if you can get on board with a creator God who has existed for all of eternity, it's not unreasonable to think that he allowed humans at one time to live for longer periods of time.
But these are real people. This is a real story. This isn't fiction. We've been kind of showing a map on the screen just to kind of help us see where we're at. Okay, so it says that this family started out in Ur of the Chaldeans. It's the craziest name to me.
But that's this area of Babylonia over here. Okay, then it says that Terah, he wanted to move his family towards Canaan. So he basically would have kind of followed that track to get there. But it says they stopped in an area called Haran, which is basically just kind of up in that Syria area. So this is a real family in a real place.
And we don't really know why Terah decided that it was time to move his family, but he did. He left that area and moved kind of towards the area of Syria. And there's only two things that I want to pull out of this first little bit, this little introduction. The first one is this. Abraham existed. This family existed inside of a patriarchal society.
Okay, which means that everything was based around the family unit with the oldest living male kind of being the head. So he's the one that made decisions. So when it came time for them to move to Haran, they were going towards Canaan. It wasn't like, what about Billy? What about my friend Billy? What about my job?
It's like, no, Terah made the decisions for the family. Like if they were going to purchase land, Terah made that decision. If they were going to move to another area, Terah made that decision. And here's the thing. Abram is the next in line to be the patriarch. And they understood themselves inside of this kind of family identity.
So we have this family that is uprooted from one area and moved to another one under the leadership of Terah. And Abram is the next in line to be the patriarch, which makes the second detail all the more important. Look at verse 30 again. Look at it. Chapter 11, verse 30 says this. Now Sarah was barren.
She had no child. So Abram is the next in line to be the patriarch, to be the leader of this family. And he doesn't have the ability with his wife to continue the family line. Family was hugely important in this time. It's how the older people were taken care of. They were taken care of by their children.
It's how family was passed down from generation to generation. Like this was a big deal. There would have actually been some shame wrapped up in this for Abraham and Sarah not being able to have children because they couldn't continue the line. And so even in the beginning of this story, there's this tension created where Abram's the next in line to be the patriarch. And he doesn't have the ability to continue the line of the family moving forward. And that kind of gets us to chapter 12.
So let's go there. We've kind of gotten to know Abram a little bit. His story, his family. Chapter 12, verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram.
Okay. Ears perk up. Stories just changed a little bit. Now the Lord said to Abram. Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation.
And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This is a huge promise. And here's the thing.
So back to verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram. We don't know up until this point if Abram has ever had any interaction with God before. This may be the first time that the Lord has ever actually spoken to him. It doesn't tell us how he did it either. Like was it an audible voice or did he kind of give him a vision?
We don't know any of that. But God shows up and he lays out this beautiful promise to Abram. He says, I'm going to take you and your family. You're going to leave here and you're going to go to a place. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless those who bless you.
I'm going to curse those who curse you. And I'm going to make you into a great nation. So much so that all the families of the earth will be blessed through you. I mean, it's this massive promise that Abram's hearing for the first time. And here's what might have made it difficult for Abram. See, we kind of gloss over this.
But Abram existed in a part of the world that most of the cultures had kind of like a polytheistic religious view. Which just meant that there were all types of gods. So there was the rain God and the sun God and the food God. That's probably not right. But some type of crop, farmer.
Anyways, you get the point. So like a polytheistic society, so for God to show up and say, I want you to follow me and I'm going to make you into this. That was different. That would have landed on Abram's ears a little bit different. It would be similar to if I showed up this morning and just said, hey guys, last week at Glen Forest, the gods spoke to me. They did.
They told me I'm going to uproot everything and we're all going to this new land. What do you mean the gods spoke to you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The rainbow God and the unicorn God and the butterfly God, they came to me and said, we're moving. We're out of here. We're going to a new place.
Where are we going, Matt? I don't know. They didn't tell me. We're just going. What are we going to do when we get there? I don't know.
I just know all the families of the earth are going to be blessed through us. And we're all going with you? Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, well, no, me and Katie and Emmy and you, but not you, not you, Carl. Definitely not you. Or the rest of the fam.
Just me. God's going to take my family and he's going to move us here. And at some point, y'all are looking at me going, Matt, have you had enough water today? Are you a little dehydrated? Are you feeling okay? But that's how it would have been heard.
So God comes to Abram and he says, no, no, no, you. I'm taking you and your family. This is my promise to you. I'm taking your family. I'm going to move you to this place and I'm going to bless those who bless you. And I'm going to curse those who curse you.
And out of your family, I'm going to bless all the families of the earth. And we kind of laugh about that part. But there are some serious implications at play for Abram. I mean, think about it. He says, go from your country and your kindred and your father's household. He says, leave it all.
Leave everything that you use to identify yourself. Leave everything for you that is your source of security. Leave everything that is your support system. Leave it all. And he says, go to the land that I'll show you. Not that I have shown you.
That I will show you. And Abram's got to be thinking about how hard it was just to follow his father, Terah, from Ur to Haran. And now God takes it a step further. And he says, no, no, no, no, no. Not you and your father's household. You.
I'm going to take you. And through your family, I'm going to bless all the families of the earth. See, God is again promising the same thing that he's been promising. He's trying to get us back to the place where he has his people in his place, in his presence, living in relationship with him. And this would have been so terribly difficult. But God's request to Abram wasn't based off of Abram's ability to follow or trust well.
It was based off of his own trustworthiness. And God lays out this promise before Abram. And something about God drew him to trust him and weigh the cost of the crazy risks that he was being called. And so, I mean, think about the responsibility that Abram would be leaving. He's next in line. But God says, no, no, no.
I've got big plans for you. I've got something else for you. I'm going to take your family and make you into a new family through which all the families of the earth would be blessed. So what happens? Verse 4. So Abram went.
Good. Good call, Abram. So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarah his wife and Lot his brother's son and all their possessions that they had gathered and the people they had acquired in Haran. And they set out to go to the land of Canaan.
Okay. So at some point, God reveals to him that the same place his father was trying to get to is actually where he's wanting to take Abram and do all this. End of verse 5. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak at Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring, I will give this land.
So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. So Abraham goes. He trusts God and he uproots his family and his livestock and his possessions. And he heads to the land that God's going to show him. And he reveals to him that it's Canaan. And then it says God appears to him.
And again, it doesn't tell us how that happens. It just says that it does. God appears to him and he says, To your offspring, I will give this land. Now, you could infer from what he said earlier that he's going to make his family into a great nation, that he was talking about his kids. But it wasn't explicit.
And so God comes to him right here and he says, No, no, no, Abram. Through your kids. Through your family. Abram. You and Sarah are going to have children. Could you imagine how terrifying and fantastic, all at the same time, this promise actually was.
That Abram and Sarah are actually going to get to have children. And God is going to, through his family, bless all the families of the earth. It is absolutely this beautiful promise. Verse 8. From there he moved to the hill country on the 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 upon the name of the Lord.
So God brings this promise to Abram. And with all the risk and all that's involved, he follows. He goes. He follows what God wants him to do. And he goes to Canaan. And God says, It's going to be through your family.
And in response to that, it says that Abram worshiped God. He built an altar and he worshiped God. And so you leave these verses just kind of expectant. You're just kind of excited for Abram and his family. That they're actually going to have kids. And that all this is going to just work out well for them.
So you just kind of want to see when are they going to have children? When is this family going to start being this great blessing to kind of all the other families? And so for us in this series, we're also looking at this covenant going, okay, what is God doing here to move us forward in restoring his relationship to humanity? How is God getting us through this promise to Abraham? How is he getting us back to the garden? How is he returning us to being his people in his place, in his presence?
Because it's a beautiful promise. But how does it turn out? And here's the problem. We're going to spend two more weeks looking at the life of Abraham. Looking at some of the other promises that God makes to him. But if you kind of follow Abram's life, it's not all roses.
They're this small family in the land of Canaan where there are other people and other tribes that are way bigger, way stronger than them that could destroy them, could capture them. It's a long time before Abram and Sarah actually even have kids. And once they have a child, there's drama that ensues around that, whether that child even survives. And so you get to the end of Abram's life, and it's still just kind of this small band, this small family of believers in the Middle East. And you're looking at it going, was the promise just smaller than I thought it was? Was it maybe metaphorical?
Like what was God promising? Okay, well, you continue that on. So you look, okay, maybe it's through the rest of Abram's line. So you follow the rest of Abram's lineage, but Abraham's ancestors end up as slaves in Egypt, and then Moses leads the slaves out of Egypt back into the land of Canaan. And they kind of start becoming this thing. They start becoming kind of this nation thing, but they keep chasing after other gods, and they don't follow God well.
And so they basically get ping-ponged back and forth between empires for hundreds of years. And then you get to the end of the Old Testament, and you're like, where does it happen? When does God make this wonderful, this beautiful family? We're here. If we're looking at the timeline, this is where we're at. The promise has been made to Abraham, and we're looking down the line going, where?
How does it come true? It didn't come true right in Abraham's life. Where does it come true? And the New Testament's answer to that, surprise, surprise, is that it comes true in Jesus. The promise is made to Abraham, but it's fulfilled in Jesus. And so we're going to look at Galatians chapter 3 to kind of get a picture of this.
You can turn there. We're actually going to put it up on the screen. We'll read through it in just a second. But this is Paul. He's talking to the church at Galatia about, like, what is the nature of salvation? What does that even look like?
And here's part of how he explains this. I know it's kind of small. You can flip there if you want to. Here's what it says. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed. So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Okay, so verse 8 says that when God came to Abraham and he made this promise, he was actually preaching the gospel. So that changes our understanding. This isn't just a promise to Abraham. This is the promise. This is the promise of the gospel. This is what Chet said at the beginning.
This is everything that we celebrate. Well, how is that possible? It was supposed to come through Abraham. It does. Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, comes through the line of Abraham. So that when Jesus comes, fully God and fully man, Jesus lived the perfect, sinless life in relationship to the Father that Adam and Eve were created to live.
He does it perfectly on our behalf. And then he goes to the cross and he dies there on the cross. And at the cross, he takes the wrath that was poured out on humanity at the time of Noah. The wrath that we deserve so that salvation could come not just to Abraham's line, not just to the Jews, but it could come to everyone. It says that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. That's everybody else.
That the way God fulfills this promise is that he makes it to Abraham and it's fulfilled in Jesus. When Jesus dies on the cross, salvation is now open to all people. It can be received by faith. And it continues. Look at the way he ends the chapter. This is Galatians 3, verse 29.
It's going to be up on the screen. It says this. And if you are Christ's, okay, if you belong to Christ, if you have placed faith in Jesus, if you are a Christian, if you have repented of your sin and he is your Savior and your Lord and your King, okay, if you are in Christ's, if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring. So that family that God promised to Abraham actually comes true in the people that would place faith in Jesus. It's a family of faith, not a physical family. Then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.
And so for all those that have placed faith in Jesus, we're the offspring. And if we're the offspring, that means we're the heirs. Heirs of what? The promise. The promise that God made to Abraham all the way back. Flip back.
Look at it again. Genesis chapter 12. This is what he says. We're going to read it again. Chapter 12, verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you. I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. God's next step for humanity through this covenant was to bring us back to the place where he had a people that could be in his presence.
The promise is made to Abraham and it's fulfilled in Jesus. And so when we're looking at this, and actually, if you look at the map again, that kind of timeline, we're going to pull it back up. The promise is made to Abraham. It's fulfilled in Jesus and then it's gifted to the church. All those that have placed faith in Jesus are now heirs of the blessing. They're heirs of the promise.
And what's the promise? It's the same promise that God gave to Abraham. It's the promise of the gospel. It's that Jesus actually gets to die for your sin in your place. That he gets to take the wrath that we deserve. That we could actually be saved through faith.
Not through family line. Not through lineage or anything like that. And that's the gospel. So if you're sitting here this morning and you're wondering, what does it mean? What is this gospel that you're talking about? What does it mean to actually follow Jesus?
What does it mean to be a Christian? It's this. It's this. That you can't be good enough to earn it. You can't live a good enough life. You can't be moral enough to earn your way into this family.
To earn your way into being an heir of this promise. And you can't be so bad that the promise doesn't land on you. That's the good news of the gospel. Is that you can repent of. That's what the Bible says. You can repent of your sin.
And place faith in Jesus. And become an heir of that promise. And so it's actually this. It's gifted to the church. But it's also carried out through the church.
God comes to Abraham and he says, Through you, I'm going to bless others. I'm going to bless you. So that you will become a blessing to others. And that's the church. We're the carriers of the good news. Like the good news of the gospel that's been given to us.
It's the same thing. God wants us to carry it out to all people. And that's what we want. We want for everyone to believe the gospel. To hear the gospel. To be changed by the gospel.
And so as we were kind of clicking into this story today. If you're familiar at all. With the story of Abraham. And you knew kind of about the blessing. You probably weren't surprised. When you saw it fulfilled in Jesus.
And it's not really a surprise. That for those that have the promise fulfilled in Jesus. That it's actually our gift. That we're the recipients of it. And if that's true. That we're the ones who are supposed to continue.
Carrying that promise. To the ends of the earth. But here's the deal. I want us to sit here for a second. I think you can know this promise conceptually. Without it ever affecting your heart and your life.
I think you can hear this promise. The fact that salvation comes through Jesus. It's been given to the church. And it's supposed to be extended to other people. Through the church. I think you can hear that.
And believe it conceptually. It's like yeah. Yeah. I know the promise. But never have it actually affect your life.
That you can hear us talk about the fact. That this is the promise of all promises. And it can just kind of become a promise. As Chet said in the beginning. It's the story. And it just becomes another story.
It goes from being the good news. To just some good news. And the truth is. That the gospel has been given to the church. To carry out. The church is actually the means.
That God is going to use. So that all the families of the earth will be blessed. It's the good news that the church cares. But here's what can happen. Here's what happens. If you don't actually believe that this is true.
Maybe you know it. But it hasn't affected your heart. It's not affecting your life. You'll let other smaller stories. Other smaller promises. Be the thing that controls your life.
Your life will be wrapped up in those things. In those stories. In that news. Because the truth is. We all love to talk about stuff. We love to be excited.
And to be passionate about things. And the truth is. If this isn't the promise. Other smaller promises. Will actually begin to get in the way. Of the good news.
That we get to exist in. And we get to share with others. And here's how that shows up. We love to talk to people about how. If they'll just put 5% of their money back into savings. That they'll be able to retire at 70.
We love to talk about our favorite college football team. We'll take the time to sit with someone. And say hey here's what I learned. At the last parenting seminar that I went to. Because apparently parents go to those. The last parenting seminar I went to.
And here's how you can get your kids to eat greens. And we can get wrapped up. And talking about the two candidates that we have. Our favorite places to eat. We'll tell people about all sorts of stuff. Without ever actually taking the time.
To tell them about the good news. To tell them about the promise. And we'll sell it for smaller stories. And the truth is. When we do that. When our lives aren't centered around the gospel.
And we're not actively sharing it with people. It's because we're not actually believing. That this is the good news that changes their lives. And the truth is. Maybe talking about college football. Or where you like to eat.
May make life more enjoyable. And better for just kind of a short little while. But it all ends up at the same place. And it's without Jesus. This promise has been gifted to the church. And it's supposed to be extended to others.
Through the church. Here's what happens if you don't believe that. Here's what happens if you don't believe that. This is the promise. The good news that can change people's lives. You'll see your job at work.
As only an 8 to 4. Or a 9 to 5. Or a 9 to 6. Only a means to pay the bills. You'll show up. Do your time.
And leave. And you won't think about the people. That God has specifically placed you around. You'll take your lunch. And you'll go sit in your car. Or you'll sit in your cubicle.
Or you'll go out to eat the lunch. Rather than going. And sitting in the break room. And intentionally taking the time. To build relationships with people. Because you're forgetting.
That it's the gospel. That it's extended through you. You'll talk to people about their vacation. And like how restful. And how good it was. Without ever talking to them.
About how true rest. And true comfort are found in Jesus. You'll go home. And we'll forget about them. Without actually hitting our knees for them. That's what happens when we forget.
When we're not actually believing the promise. When we're not believing the promise. That it is the good news. It's going to affect our relationship with our neighbors. Our neighbors are just kind of the semi-annoying people. Who live near us.
That we wish were a little bit further away. We won't wave to our neighbors. As we're rolling our trash can to the road. Because we don't want to have to get in a conversation with them. We'll talk about how high their grass is. Rather than just grabbing our lawn mower.
And walking across the street. And cutting it for them. To show them the love of Jesus. And serving them. And if you're not believing that promise. They'll never see the inside of your home.
That's what happens. That's what happens to our money too. We believe that our. If we're not understanding. That this is the promise. The good news.
That's supposed to be extended. Through us to others. It affects the way we think about our money. We'll fret. And be anxious. And worried.
With every bill that comes. Rather than realizing. That God's the one who provides. And we get to step out in faith. And be generous. It's the same thing with our time.
You'll start thinking about your time. As. As. As just for you. It's for your comfort. Your enjoyment.
Not to be leveraged for others. Give up my weekend. I. I don't think so. That's what happens when we're not believing this promise. We're not believing that this is the good news.
Your community group is. Is just a group of people that you hang out with. They're just a bunch of people that you love. And you love spending time with. And they kind of exist for your good. And your growth.
And that when you're spending time with them. It's good. Because it's good for you. Without ever thinking about it as a vehicle for mission. To see more people come to know Jesus. So you'll have somebody new show up to hang out with your community group.
And we won't go out of our way to make them feel welcome. Or get into a conversation with them. We won't stay after and help clean up. So that we can continue to have that conversation. Our group will just exist for us. If this isn't the promise that is supposed to be extended through us to others.
We'll look for reasons to miss out on the gathering. To miss out on our group meeting time. We'll hear of opportunities to serve and to be on mission. And we'll just expect that somebody else is going to go do that. That we don't actually have to go do that. You may be sitting there right now thinking of all the reasons that you may have.
For why you're not sharing the gospel. Why you're not being on mission. You can think of all the reasons of why you haven't shared the gospel with your co-workers. Or why you haven't met your neighbors. And the problem is that it is indicative of the fact that the gospel. That story is being trumped over by some other smaller story.
Some other smaller story is actually more beautiful. More compelling. It's actually better news. It's something that we're more passionate about. We care more about than the gospel. We'll talk to people about all kinds of stuff.
But the promise that's made to Abram. Fulfilled in Christ and gifted to the church. Is supposed to be extended to others through the church. And if any of that is hitting you in the chest this morning. The Bible says just repent. Repent and believe the truth of the gospel.
Which is salvation is given to you in Jesus. And is supposed to be extended through you to others. So my question for you this morning is. What story. What smaller story is actually getting in the way of the biggest story? What's the thing that you're more passionate about.
That you care more about. Than the ability to actually give people the only good news. That changes everything for them. Where do you need to personally repent this morning? Who are the people that God's like intentionally placed you around. Called you to reach out to.
And to share the gospel with this morning. Because here's what happens if you do believe that. If you do believe that the gospel is extended through you to others. It just means that your entire life. All that you are. All that you have.
All that you do. Belongs to Jesus. And gets to be a means. That he can use to reach into the lives of others. He just wants us to be open to that. So the question is.
Is that what you want? Do you want to be open to that? Because all of us are going to fall short. All of us are going to leave work. And just miss out on an opportunity. We're all going to see our neighbor.
And just do the head duck. And keep running. The cause to repent guys. That's why the gospel is good news in the first place. Because we're not going to be able to live up. We're not going to be able to meet this expectation.
We can shoot for it. And follow after Jesus. But I want you to believe the good news of the gospel this morning. Is that this promise actually can be extended through you. To others. Isaac and Raz are going to come back up.
And here's how I want us to respond this morning. If you're sitting in the room this morning. The way that this promise is true for you. The way that you can receive Jesus. The way that you can receive the good news of the gospel. Is through faith.
The Bible says that if you repent of your sin. And place your faith in Jesus. You will be saved. That's the way in. It's not through your good morals. It's not.
It's not through. Like you can't be bad enough. For it not to be extended to you. The Bible just says repent. And to turn from it. So if that's you this morning.
If that's you this morning. We want to open that up to you. We want you to place your faith. Like that's our desire for you. We want you to know the love of Jesus. And for the rest of us.
If you're a Christian in the room. What story. What story has overshadowed the gospel. Where are you not seeing the promise. That you can extend to others. What's actually getting in the way of that.
So like. Where do you need to personally repent this morning. Where do you need to. When you get together with your community group. What's the thing that you need to talk about. Who are the people.
That God has specifically called you. To reach. To share the gospel with. I want you guys just close your eyes. I want you to think. I want you to ask.
Ask. Like where. Where am I off here. Where am I not believing the good news of the gospel. Where do I have those opportunities. God.
I pray that all across the room. That right now. Through your Holy Spirit. That you're opening our eyes. To see. Where we have opportunities.
To share the gospel. God. I pray that. More than college football. More than education. More than anything.
That can grab our heart. And become more important. I pray God. That you would. Give us a heart. And a desire.
To share the gospel. To share the good news. God. That you'll show us. Where we actually have the ability. To do that at work.
And. And with our neighbors. And with our family. And our friends. God. Help us to see.
The gospel. As beautiful. And as captivating. So that. We can't help. But go out.
And share it. God. I pray that you would. Continue to work. In our hearts. As we respond to you.
In Jesus name. Amen. You guys stand. Let's sing together.
Jun 26