What Position Do You Play?

You have your Bible, and I hope you do go and make your way to

Genesis chapter 18. Genesis chapter 18.

Genesis 18 · chapter mention Genesis 18 · chapter mention

We'll be looking at verses one through 21 as we continue our

series that we've titled Answering God's Call.

Just a special thanks to all of you who are involved in our

foster care ministry in the life of our church.

Just one of the many ways we seek to share and to show the

love of Christ. And so thank you to Andy and Lee

Russell for all you guys do to lead and spearhead this

ministry. So many others that serve in

support roles. It's great to have Rick Jackson

who served with Faith Bridge and helps and supports him in so

many ways. It's a product foster care

awareness month. So we're just continually

drawing attention to opportunities and ways that God

would have a step into ministry opportunities by his Spirit in

order to be the hands and the feet of Jesus.

So Amen for all that you do and praise God for just all the ways

you've been involved in seeing what we saw to begin this

service, right. I don't have time to go into all

the stories, but kind of go back to one of those.

One of those guys that was baptized is the husband and

father involved in a family because his kids were invited to

church by another families. Kids in the life of our church,

Colin Cat Smith and their kids offering an invitation to

church. And then guess what?

A whole family coming and realizing what God has in store

for them and celebrating that today and beyond.

I could say more, otherwise I wouldn't have time to preach, so

I'm not. But listen, just thank you for

being the church. Thank you for sharing the

gospel. Thank you for being bold with

your faith. This is what we mean when we say

as you go, you go to make disciples is to share and show

the love of Christ and to speak the gospel.

Invite people to come and see and taste and see the Lord is

good, right? Amen.

So well, if you have your Bible there in Genesis 18, I hope it's

becoming clear by now why we've titled this series Answering

God's Call. Because every time we flip to a

new chapter in this book, we're at a new stage of Abraham being

asked to answer God's call on his life.

And this is what life is all about.

No, my call and your call is not exactly the same call as

Abraham's call. But God's plan and purpose for

all of us is to answer and say yes to his call on our lives.

That's where the abundant life in Christ has lived.

That's where God's plan for your life and mind is realized as we

say yes to God's call on our lives and we're watching this

unfold in His life so that we can take and apply what the

Bible says should be happening and applied in our lives.

So the truth I want you to see from Genesis 18 is simply this.

And I'm going to have to explain it because it's probably not

going to make much sense when I first say it, but here it is.

You ready. God includes you to use you.

God has included you to use you. Now before I explain what I mean

by that, let me just go ahead and say that lots of Christians,

lots of believers actually don't believe that.

Now they'll say they believe that, but by the way they live,

they betray the fact that they actually don't really believe

that. In fact, I hear it all the time.

In fact, this past weekend I was at an event with a pastor friend

of mine in Tennessee called the called the Total Archery

Challenge. I like shooting a bow and arrow.

This was a weekend of shooting bows and arrows together.

So 2 pastors and another guy get together to do that.

We had a great time and I'm talking with my pastor friend

about things going on in his church and he tells me about a

man that I know, mutual friend that survives pancreatic cancer.

He thought surely the doctor thought surely he would not

survive. He does tells his pastor, I know

God's got a calling on my life. But Tim, I'm, I'm divorced.

I don't feel like God can use me.

And there's a believer struggling with the fact,

struggling to believe that God has included him to use him.

Let me be more specific, right? Lots of Christians live like

this. They live like God wanted to

save them but then be done with them.

Lots of Christians live like God's grace was good enough to

forgive them, but not to use them.

Lots of Christians live like God love them enough to rescue them

from hell, but he doesn't like them enough to use them to get

anybody else into heaven. Lots of Christians live like God

wants to include them in His plan of salvation, but not use

them in the mission of salvation.

Because of this, lots of believers miss out on the call

of God on their lives if they would simply believe the fact

that God has included them, called them, save them, pick

them on His team, a part of the family of God.

Why? To be used to be used to expand

the mission and the truth of others hearing and coming to

know the love of God in Christ for them.

Listen to the word of God as I read Genesis 18 beginning in

verse one, we're going to read through verse 15 to begin with.

And the Lord appeared to him. That's to Abraham by the oaks of

Mamre as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.

He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men

were standing in front of him. And when he saw them he ran from

the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and

said, Oh Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass

by your servant. Let a little water be brought,

and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while

I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and

after that you may pass on, since you have come to your

servant. So they said, Do as you have

said. And Abraham went quickly into

the tent to Sarah, and said, Quick three, say as a fine

flour, knead it and make cakes. And Abraham ran to the herd and

took a calf tender and good, and gave it to a young man who

prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk in

the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them, and he

stood by them under the tree while they ate.

Then they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife?

And he said, she's in the tent. And the Lord said, I will surely

return to you about this time next year and Sarah your wife

shall have a son. And Sarah was listening at the

tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old,

advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to

be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself,

saying, After I am worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have

pleasure? The Lord said to Abraham, Why

did Sarah laugh and say, Shall I indeed bear a child now that I

am old? Is anything Don't miss this?

Is anything too hard for the Lord at the appointed time?

I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall

have a son. But Sarah denied it, saying I

did not laugh, for she was afraid.

He, that is the Lord said no, but you did laugh.

Abraham is doing a little front porch, sitting in the heat of

the day out in front of his tent.

When from the sound of the text, it doesn't seem like he sees

them coming from a long way off. It seems like all the sudden

boom, there the three were in front of him.

Abraham's reaction, Abraham's reaction is a little strange.

I I don't believe he did this with every random guest that

came walking by in the heat of the day, but he immediately does

something strange for a Middle Eastern, especially 100 year old

Middle Eastern man. All right, dude takes off on a

dead Sprint. He immediately runs to greet

them, and then furthermore, he does something even more strange

besides run as he immediately bows down before these three

men. Now, some people want to argue

that maybe Abraham doesn't know who he's talking with.

I actually believe he knows exactly who he's seeing, who

he's witnessing in front of him. Why do I say that?

Number one, because of the way Abraham is acting.

Surely he doesn't do this for every guest #2 the Lord has

appeared to Abraham before. This is not something he's

experienced for the first time, right?

This is a continuation of something that has happened in

his life. I believe Abraham knows exactly

who this is the Lord and two angels appearing in human flesh

with him. Either way, whether or not he

knows who it is or not, he says, oh Lord, stop and stay.

Let me get a little water to wash your feet.

It's so interesting how he's he is under promising and over

delivering here. Just watch this.

All right, he's let me get just a little bit of water, just a

morsel, just a bite of bread so you can rest in the shade, be

refreshed for just a second before you continue your journey

on right The three, the three visitors accept Abraham

Abraham's offer and Abraham recruits Sarah to start kneading

the dough and baking the cakes. And then Abraham goes and gets

some choice, a prime USDA beef. Now, if you've ever been at the

restaurant and you're like, man, this has been what, 30-45 hours

since we ordered? And you're thinking, you know,

you've heard the phrase they have to go find the cow, right?

Literally, they had to go find the cow.

This is not like stop and go get gas and a drink, right?

This is like, hey, stay the day. This is take time.

I'm about to usher lavish hospitality.

He goes and gets the best that he's got, right.

He's got to prepare it from scratch, actually from alive to

scratch, then ready to eat. All right.

So he recruits Sarah a spares no expense here.

And on top of that, Abram doesn't actually sit and eat

with him. He does what they would do in

their culture to, again, lavish hospitality.

If you've ever travelled internationally, you might

notice it'll make you very uncomfortable at first.

But you know, in America, if the waiter or waitress is too much

by your table, what do you kind of like?

You're kind of like, hey, we're good.

You can, you can back off, right?

Well, if you go internationally, they're going to stand typically

right there and wait and watch you eat and wait on your every

minute need, which is exactly what Abraham does.

He's not eating with them. He is waiting on them, serving

them to the greatest capacity possible.

Eventually the conversation during the meal goes like this.

Where is your wife, Sarah? And again, that's an odd

question, unless this is somebody that number one knows

who she is and knows her by name.

All right, well, she's in the tent, Abraham says.

And then just as casually and coolly as if he's talking about

the weather, he's like, hey, by the way, but this time next year

I'm going to return and she's going to have a baby.

Sarah. The whole time's got ear pressed

up against the tent. She's listening with all she's

got, right? Again.

That's odd. Unless she knew these were some

VI PS that she ought to be listening, that Abraham's acting

crazy, running around like a chicken with his head cut off to

get him served, right? She's listening into their

conversation, wanting to know what they're saying.

She hears this, all right? And and, and her immediate

reaction is, is, is actually pretty funny, but Jesus does in

the flesh there doesn't think it's funny, but, but, but here's

what he says. It says the Lord there like

capital, the Lord. So obviously at this point, they

know the identity of who they're talking with.

And not only does he know her name, he can read her internal

quiet not expressed out loud thoughts, right.

And so hearing these words of a son being born to her.

She's 90 Abrams 100 not out loud, but in size inside she

says, my worn out body. And then here's a real problem.

My old husband. Am I going to have the pleasure

of a child after my monthly visitor left hadn't seen that in

decades. God case, you haven't missed

that. She laughs inside Jesus, there

in the flesh again. What is this gal?

This is what we've called a Christophany and appearance of

the Son of God, who's existed from eternity past, who spoke

creation into existence, but who did not take on human flesh and

become fully human while remaining fully God until he was

born of Mary, just like he was promised.

But it always existed, and yes, appeared even in bodily form in

the Old Testament, which you have an appearance of here and

here. He asked why to her husband.

Why did your wife laugh? Now you got to think Abram

didn't hear a laugh, right? I'm wondering what's going

through his mind. And then he speaks her very

thoughts. If Abram and Sarah don't know

who this is, now they do. And then the Lord drops.

The question, is anything too hard for the Lord?

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

The first thing, the first lesson that we learn from these

first 15 verses is this. Nothing is impossible with God.

God can use anybody in any situation.

God can use anybody in any situation.

Why? Because nothing is impossible

with God. Is anything too hard for the

Lord? Obviously he's asking a

rhetorical question. Why are you laughing?

Is anything too hard for God? Do you not believe that nothing

is impossible with him? Let me just break down for a

moment what happened with Sarah? Because this happens to us too.

We may not laugh out loud at God, but often times we laugh on

the inside. So #1 her laughter starts y'all

by lack of faith in God. Now, again, a lot of Christians,

most Christians would say, I believe God can do anything with

anybody. Nothing is impossible with God.

But as soon as they go through a hard thing or they fail in a in

a big way, or they stumble and all of a sudden they feel like

they're unusable, guess what they say?

They sound like that guy my pastor was describing.

Yeah, but God can't use me. Yeah, God save me.

Yes, I plan, I hope is in heaven.

Yes, Jesus has forgiven me, but I just don't feel like God can

do anything with me. So she's got a lack of faith in

God, which leads to laughing at God, not on the outside, but on

the inside. And then after laughing at God,

she's afraid of God because she's lied to God.

And then she's rebuked by God. That's a bad cycle to be in.

You ever been in it? You ever had some lack of faith

in God that's LED you to maybe not mock God, but quite

honestly, you kind of just laughed under your breath, said

no, that's not possible, God. That's not a good idea, God,

that can't happen. And then lack of faith in God

led to being afraid or maybe sin, like lying to God, then

maybe being rebuked by God. That's the cycle, the result of

not believing all things are possible with God.

Are you believing? Let me ask you this question.

Are you believing right now? Anything is too hard for God.

Let me be more specific. Does it seem too hard to you to

be who God has called you to be? Does it seem too hard to you to

do what God has called you to do?

Does it seem too hard to you to say no to sin in temptation?

Does it seem too hard to you to take every thought captive to

obey Christ? Does it seem too hard for for

you to have a godly marriage, or to have a godly Christian home

or to forgive someone? Does it seem too hard for you to

keep praying for that family member, that coworker, that

child, or that grandchild that is yet to trust Christ?

It seems like they never will. Does it seem too hard for you to

face and walk faithfully through the circumstances where God has

you? Is anything right now?

Are you believing anything is too hard for God?

You don't want to go down that cycle that that path puts you on

because nothing is impossible with Him.

Do you believe? Do you believe God has included

you to use you? Why don't you listen to verses

16 through 21? Then the men set out from there,

and they look down towards Sodom, and Abraham went with

them to set them on their way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide

from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall

surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of

the earth shall be blessed in him?

For I have chosen him that he may command, that he may command

his children and his household after him, to keep the way of

the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord

may bring to Abraham what He has promised him.

Then the Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom and

Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to

see whether they have done all together according to the outcry

that has come to me, and if not, I will know.

You see, after the meal, the three visitors continue toward

Sodom and Gomorrah, the destination of their journey.

And as a gracious host, Abraham doesn't just say goodbye in the

living room or the foyer. He doesn't even shake their hand

and hug him and say goodbye on the porch.

As a good host in this day and time and culture, he would have

travelled a part of their way with him.

And obviously by this point, there's a little separation

between the four because now Abraham and the Lord are having

a conversation here and the angels with them maybe are a

little bit ways apart. And the Lord ask a question out

loud that he already knows the answer to.

Shall I hide from Abraham? What?

What I'm about to do. Let me just go and give you this

second lesson we learned. We're going to explain it.

Here it is. You ready?

God shares his secrets with his friends, they say.

Kyle, that sounds odd. Well, let me explain.

I think it will become far more clear that God shares His

secrets with His friends. You see, Abraham is going to

have the privilege of hearing the will of God because Abraham

is in a personal relationship with God.

Abraham's about to get inside. He's about to get a heads up.

He's about to get inclusion in the will of God that's about to

unfold. Why?

Because he is in a friendship. He is in a personal relationship

with God. This is what I mean by God

shares his secrets with his friends.

Let me see if I can be more clear.

Are you ready? Hey, Noah, friend of God, build

a boat. I got a little secret for you.

It's about to rain. Like a lot.

I bet Noah was glad God shares his secrets with his with his

friends. Hey, Moses, I'm going to let my

people go. I want you to go to Egypt and

say to Pharaoh. Let my people right.

God shares his secrets with his friends.

How about King David? Hey, David, a son of yours is

going to sit on the throne and rule and reign forever.

You walk before me blamelessly and in righteousness.

Hey, Daniel, I want you to write what you read and what you what

what what you've heard and what I've said so that people will

know what's to come in latter years and generations.

Hey, Nehemiah, I'm going to restore my people to their land.

I want you to go back and build the wall of Jerusalem.

Hey, disciples, all authority has been given to me in heaven

and on earth. Therefore then go and what?

Make disciples? Why?

Because I am Lord, I am ruler, I'm in charge of all.

And then how about the Apostle Paul?

I love this Paul says whether in the body or out of the body, I

don't know. I couldn't tell you, he said,

but I know a man talking of himself caught up to the 3rd

heaven. So much so I saw things, I

experienced things that I can't put into human language.

Listen, you read those books people say they saw in heaven.

Paul says I went there and you can't put what I saw in human

language, so just be careful. God shares His secrets with his.

What did Jesus say in John 1515? No longer do I call you

servants, for the servant does not know what his master is

doing. But I have called you.

There it is. For all that I've heard from my

Father, I've what I've made known to you, y'all.

I've shared all my secrets. I've shared with you the will of

God with you. Find any friend of God, man or

woman in Scripture. Find a friend of God.

You will find a person that whom God shares his will and his ways

with. Why?

Because he's included us in order to use us.

This is exactly what God is doing with Abraham.

This is exactly what God wants to do with you and with me.

Do you believe that? You really believe God wants to

share with you things that He wants to include you in so that

he can use you. This is God's fun.

This is why God's put the Holy Spirit in you.

I read this morning in my quiet time Colossians chapter 2 text

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

that I've read before that just jumped out to me like crazy

again, but it spoke of who Christ is in Colossians 2.

And Paul writes statements that go like this.

In him the fullness of deity dwells bodily.

And then Paul describes just earlier before he says that,

that the one who indwells us is who none other than Jesus, the

Son of God by his Spirit indwells us, and in him the

fullness of deity dwells bodily. You are, if you are a believer,

the fullness of God dwells in you by the Spirit of Jesus

Christ through the Holy Spirit who's called you to Himself.

You don't have, you don't lack anything.

You need to have to be used by God.

God has included you in order to use.

You've got no excuse. All the ones you want to use

don't matter and don't count. God has breath in your lungs and

you're on His team. He's included you in order to

use you. Do you believe that?

Why does God want to share with Abraham what is about to happen?

Because it has everything to do with the calling of God on His

life. This is how God will include you

in His plan based on His calling on your life.

He pulls Abraham aside because why?

Because God has called Abraham to be the one that he's going to

start with, through whom he's going to being and bring about a

great and mighty nation, through whom he's going to bring about

blessing to all the peoples of the earth.

And guess what? God is about to deal directly

with some peoples of the earth. Abraham's about to have a front

row seat to what God's going to do with some peoples of the

earth that are walking in outright, outright rebellion

against him. And God wants Abraham to realize

the criticalness of his calling, that God, through him, let's the

world see what it is to walk with God, to know him so that

what's about to happen doesn't continue to happen.

Now, I want to talk about this for a moment.

God is about to pour out judgement on the peoples of the

Jordan Valley because of their extreme wickedness.

And God is not about to do this flippantly.

He's not throwing a temper tantrum as an immature God in

the sky that throws lightning bolts.

God is not in a rage. God is not acting in a way that

sometimes he's caricatured. In fact, he's going out of his

way to investigate the situation personally before doing anything

about it. Of course, God knows all and

sees all. He doesn't have to come down to

see what's going on in the Jordan Valley.

But he does so and says that he does so.

So you and I know how the patience and mercy of God and

the thoroughness of the justice of God before acting.

The third thing I want you to see here is that there is no

injustice with God. There is no injustice with God.

Let me be real honest with you. One of the accusations made

against God, often by unbelievers who people who

reject the gospel that's made against God, made against the

Bible, is how could he, how could he, how could he wipe out

entire cities, an entire people group, right?

Entire families? If that's who God is, I don't

want anything to do with him. Have you heard that before?

The Bible says here that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was crying

out to God. The level of injustice, the

level of wickedness, the level of pain and oppression, the

level of abuse, the level of rebellion, hard hearted know God

we're going to live our way. The level of destruction, the

level of the absolute turmoil and chaos of unleashing the

havoc of people, men and women living their own way against God

was literally it affecting all the people from kids and

families in the community and the society and beyond.

All of it was crying is as if creation was crying out.

Is there a God who would ever make this right?

Is there a God who could reverse this pain?

Is there a God who could bring justice?

Is there a God who could do away and make this right?

Is there a God who could hit reset?

Is there a God who is holy that can do anything about human sin?

The sin of the city was crying out for justice.

Is there a judge? Is there a judge in all the

universe who would be willing in His Holiness and mercy and His

goodness to step in and do anything about this?

Or are we left all alone? Another thing you'll hear a

false statement about God is you'll hear sometimes people

say, well God was that way in the Old Testament, but he, he,

he got better with Jesus in the New Testament.

Let me read you what the Bible says.

Matthew 1014 and 15. Jesus says if anyone will not

receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from

your feet when you leave that house or town.

Truly I say to you, it be it will be more bearable on the day

of judgement for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that

town. Matthew 1123 and 24 This is

Jesus again. And you Capernaum, will you be

exalted to heaven. You'll be brought down to Hades,

for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it

would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be

more tolerable on that day of judgment for the land of Sodom

than for you. So here's some bottom line

realities of the universe we got to reckon with.

God is either holy or he's not. Man is either sinful or he's

not, and mankind's sin either demands divine judgment from a

holy just judge of the universe or it does not.

But if it does not, ladies and gentlemen, explain to me why God

the Father would so love the world that He would send his one

and only Son to die in your place.

Pierce through hands and feet so that the holiness of God could

be demonstrated and actually satisfied, all the while the

judgment, the just judgment of God for all of mankind.

Sin could be paid for out of a God who is both loved and holy

at the same time, because He is holy and we are sinful, and yet

we are offered rescue from it because of the holy love and

justice of God. Friends, there is no injustice

with God. Don't let anybody else tell you

otherwise. Back to Abraham, God's call in

his life is to become a great nation and to be a blessing to

all the other nations of the earth.

How? I want you to notice this

closely in the text. How?

By living according to the way of the Lord, demonstrating the

Bible says righteousness and justice for the world to see.

God is saying in his mercy Abraham, my call on your life is

to live in such a way so that even through your descendants

the world can watch and see there is a God in heaven and

there is a way He has called us to live and there is a way to

know Him and walk with him. I want the world to see Abraham,

me through you and your descendants.

This call on Abraham's life is the same call on our lives in

Cartersville, GA today for the world to see there is a God and

he is good to come and see and taste and see that God is good.

Why? Because I'm watching through

your life. I'm watching God do through you

or I'm watching God through me do something that I don't see

anywhere else. And I want to know what you know

and who you know and how you know it.

This is the call on his life and mine #4 is this God's call on

our lives is to live and share the way of the Lord.

Our call, God's call on our lives is to live and share the

way of the Lord. Jesus puts it so clear in the

New Testament, right? He says to his guys, hey, I'm

not calling you to fish for fish any longer.

That was fun. But I'm calling you to fish for

this is going to be a whole lot more fun, All right?

He says you're going to be my what witnesses starting right

here in Jerusalem to the what ends of the ends of the earth.

He says you're to be the salt of the earth, the light of the

world. Paul's going to put it another

language. Paul writes you are ambassadors

for Christ as if God was making his appeal to the lost through

you. Paul says also you're going to

be like living letters of Christ for the world to read and see to

know there's a God in his love. So friends, our lives literally

are to be billboards of the gospel wherever we live, work

and play. And and in case you, in case

this kind of hasn't sunk in for you yet, most Christians, I

believe, miss out on the most exciting part of living the

Christian life. Let me, let me be honest, like

every day, yes, it's supposed to start with you and God.

Listen, I wouldn't trade my quiet time with God for nothing,

all right? But you, you're not going to

usually find me jumping up and down and crying about 6:00 AM

when it's just me and God. I mean, they're day.

There are days. Maybe that happens.

But you know, when I jump up and down and throw a party, most

Christians get bored. Being a Christian.

You know why? Because their lives are not

being lived as gospel billboards for the world to see.

And as a result, their party pooping on God's greatest call

on their life. And no wonder.

It's sad, boring, and complacent.

Because guess what? If your life is not leading to

seeing anybody, I guarantee if anybody in this room had

anything to do with what they just saw, you're like, I want to

do that again. God, give me another chance

today to do that again. That was fun.

That's worth living for right there.

Like God. I mean, no, it's not better than

knowing God itself, but the only thing next to it is seeing

somebody else come to know and see and taste and see the Lord

is good. Just like you.

I just want John writes in his letters that our joy may be

complete and our joy may be full right that he's sharing with

them. But I get that most Christians

are bored because they're quite honestly wrapped up in their own

party and it me and God and no more and not worried about

anybody else's life and living and their life's not advertising

the gospel. Nobody's learning Jesus lived,

died, was buried, rose again from you, from them, and

therefore they're missing out and they think the Christian

life's boring there. You know what happens then?

Then they go out and try to taste and chase everything the

world has to offer, and then they're dissatisfied with that

thinking that could satisfy the hole in their heart and they're

missing out on God's greatest call on their life.

They're shooting bows and arrows up in Tennessee, having a good

time with my pastor friend lived out God's calling on his life.

We're asking the guy, young guy, he's like 18, what direction to

a course. Tim, my buddy, introduces

himself to him. I'm just thinking about shooting

my bow and air and Tim's like, Phineas, do you know Jesus?

I'm like, oh, here we go. Phineas is like I'm working on

it. That means no.

By the way, if you know Jesus, you don't say that.

Tim says Phineas he made you, He loves you, he sees you, he has a

plan for your life. He sent his son to die for you.

He paid the price of your sin. If you call on Jesus name to

save you asking for forgiveness, you can be saved.

And I'll, I'll be honest, right? Nothing else we did up there

mattered any more than that 35 seconds.

I'm going to be honest. Most of what we do to make

money, most of what we do to have fun, most of what we do to

have the house in the car and the vacations and all the stuff

that we want doesn't mean anything compared to the 35

second conversations you can have every day.

And I guarantee you it'll be far more exciting and you'll throw a

party like no other party when you see it lead to that right

there. God's call in our lives is to

share and show the way of the Lord.

I've got one more part of this passage I want to show you, and

it really deals with parents. All right?

So if you're a parent or going to be a parent, a grandparent, I

want you to I want you to lean in verse 19.

It says Abraham, what am I calling to do and how you to do

it? He says that I that he that is

may Abraham may and don't miss this word, command his children,

the parents. I want you to stay with me.

Command his children. You ready on 3123.

Command his children. The world will tell you don't

command your kids to do anything more about that in a second

command his kids and his household after him to keep the

way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice.

But I don't want you to miss is one of the keys to Abraham's

life here in calling was to be a faithful husband, a faithful

father and leader of his family. This is just one of the many

places in Scripture that we see this following final principle

this morning is that parents are responsible for teaching their

children the things of God. Parents are responsible for

teaching their children the things of God.

And did you notice what specific word God said was to

characterize Abraham's parenting when it came to his kids

learning the will and the ways of God?

Did you notice that the word, it starts with AC.

It's an imperative that means a command.

I just said the word, sorry, command, command.

Now, hey, do y'all want y'all want to think about this?

We're going to have a family meeting.

We're going to negotiate. No.

As for me in my house, Abraham, you're to say we're going to

what? We're going to serve.

Like when Joshua said that he wasn't giving the other members

of the family an option. He was saying, you live in my

house. This is the way we do.

This is the way we do life. All right, So what is Abraham

commanding? To command his kids.

He's to command them. Two things to be spent to learn

the ways of God and to then obey the ways of God.

Now I want you to be, I want to be very clear.

God did not say here, Abram, command your kids to believe

because he can't. He can't make the choice for

your kids and neither can you. The command is to instruct.

The command is to hold accountable to what you've

instructed. It's up to between God and your

children and grandchildren, whether they actually believe

and receive. All right, but this is a way of

life you're to set in your home. Learning and obeying the ways of

God is not to be optional in a Christian home.

I'm going to say this. It upsets you.

This is just true. But if, if, if learning and

living the ways of God is an option in your home, you are not

biblically parenting the way the Bible says to do it.

You're just not. I didn't say you could force

them to believe. I'm just saying you're not doing

it the way the Bible says do it. Now let me just also be clear.

There is a way that you can do this harshly and overbearingly

that will send them running for the hills.

And so in some ways our culture has pendulum swung over to this

gentle parenting where we're so passive we negotiate with our 2

year olds and we were being duped by the devil.

You know what Proverbs says here, Listen to this Proverbs

2915, the proverb says leave a kid alone and what you're going

to get is shame. The rod and reproof give wisdom.

You hear that? The rod and reproof give wisdom,

but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

I don't want to get too personal here, but I just, I just want to

say this because I, I realize not everyone has had this

privilege, but I was a benefactor of a mom and dad who

took that parenting principle seriously.

And listen, the wood has been laid to my backside, OK?

So I can talk as a testimony, as a satisfied customer, all right.

But I can tell you that they did it in the way that the Bible

says do it, OK? And listen to me.

My father never, ever spanked me in anger.

He never did it out of control and he never did it without me

knowing exactly what I had done wrong and what I should have

done right in its place. I, I'm just going to be honest,

my kids are really, I wish I, my kids could say the same, but

they're not going to be able to say the same.

Can I just tell you how I feel? They will not be able to say the

same. But my father would sit me down

on the bed and he'd say, son, I'm going to be up there in a

moment and we'd have a conversation and then we would

experience the consequences and he would depart for me to think

about it for a month. He'd come back in about 5

minutes and wrap his arm around me and saying, Kyle, I want you

to never forget how much I love you.

What you did was wrong and you experienced the consequences of

that. And guess what?

When you leave my home, the consequences probably be far

worse for bad decisions that don't honor God.

But I pray one day you'll learn under my roof how to avoid those

consequences. I praise God my parents did not

leave my rear end alone. I'm just going to put it like

that, as odd as that sounds, praise God.

Parents, God has included you to use you.

OK, your kids need three things from you spiritually.

Are you ready? They need a knowledge of what

you believe. If your kids leave your house

and they don't know what you believe, what the Bible says,

you've got to teach them what you believe #2 an understanding

of why you believe it and #3 an example of how to live it.

An example of how to live it. God has included you to use you.

I'm going to call John and praise team out.

I'm going to finish this way. If you've ever found yourself on

a team, be whatever sport or activity it is, one of the first

questions somebody's going to ask you is what position do you?

Will you play? In other words, how do you

uniquely contribute? What are your gifts?

What are your talents? How were you built?

What do you do for the team that helps the team win?

All right, you're included on the team so you can be used on

the team in a specific way. God has included you on the team

so he can use you on the team in a specific way.

If you're inhabited by the Holy Spirit, you've been gifted by

the Holy Spirit to be used in a specific way.

What position are you? Are you playing?

Or does the Christian life feel pretty boring because you're not

even in the game? What position are you playing?

Have you realized God has included you in order to use

you? You know This is why we say the

mission of our church is to love people to life in Jesus Christ.

You know why? There's not a, there's not

another even close second reason to live compared to that, to

love people to life in Jesus Christ.

That's why we say our vision is to soak our growing community

with the gospel of Jesus Christ, to see our growing community

saturated with it. Because my goodness, there's not

a more exciting thing to live for, to see people's lives

changed. I don't know if you need to

trust Christ today. If you need to say Jesus, I need

to get in the game. If you need to say Lord, I want

to say yes to the calling. Oh my God, I don't even know

what the calling is. I'm just ready and willing to

say yes. If you will clarify for me, I'll

surrender. I surrender.

I want to say yes. Would you guide me in what that

yes is? I'm going to stand here.

We'll have encouragers close and we're going to sing and worship

and you respond. Heavenly Father God, I want to

ask that right now, in this next few moments, we'd say yes to

you. If someone needs to say yes for

salvation, yes for service, yes to the call, all the above.

Whatever it is, God have your way, just as we are in our

lives. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Would you stand with me?

We're going to sing you. Come as the Lord leads you.

We'll wait for you.