A Pattern For Life

If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, go and make your

way to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12 versus one

Genesis 12 · chapter mention Genesis 12 · chapter mention

through 3 will be our text this morning.

We're diving back into our normal rhythm of walking through

a book of the Bible we left off with Genesis about 3 years ago.

And not that I expect you to remember everything from

chapters one through 11. I'll give you a little recap

here in a second, but we're going back to this beginning

book of the Bible. It has so many foundational

things about God, about life, about the way he's designed us

to walk by faith with him. And so as we walk through the

story of Genesis, we're going to be unpacking this idea of

answering the call, answering the call of God.

We're going to see this displayed in the life of Abram

and others. But I'm also inviting you in to

see how God has a call on your life and you're answering that

call somehow, someway, even this morning.

And of course, the only the only answer really that's that

satisfies that's that, that that is right is yes, yes, by faith.

We're going to see that. And I'm praying that whatever

way in whatever direction God is calling you through the word of

God, you will too. I will too say say yes.

Well, Genesis one through 11 has been compared to a baseball

game. This is a little

oversimplification, but if it helps, just get a little running

start. Basically, you know mankind is

given the opportunity by God to step up to the plate to hit the

pitch of the will of God with their lives and their choices

and their living. Adam and Eve have the first step

back and perhaps things go OK there for a little while, but

soon enough the pitch comes of hitting the will of God, obeying

His instructions, and Adam and Eve swing and miss as they

choose to do life their own way and rebel and disobey God.

Strike one. Fast forward a little bit to

about Genesis 7. Humanity is back up to the plate

of God's will in general. Mankind has been given the

opportunity by God to place faith in Him, to walk in

obedience to Him or not. And guess what?

It was or not, with the sole exception of Noah and his wife

and his three sons and their wives, no one on the planets

really choosing to honor and obey God.

And God says I'm going to start over.

They, they, they've missed again the pitch of doing my will for

my glory. And with the exception of Noah

and his family, God starts over. Strike two for humanity.

Fast forward a little bit to Genesis 11.

There's a story there of how mankind had been given

instructions by God after the flood to start over and multiply

and spread out and disperse over the earth and multiply and

fulfill the Commission God had given mankind to do.

But what did mankind decide to do?

Did they follow God's instructions?

Nope, they gathered together, said we like it right here.

We're going to do what we want. We're going to build a tower for

our name and our fame against the against God's direction.

And God of course, does something pretty unique.

He scrambles their languages to force them to disperse, to form

the nations of the world and God forces them to according to his

plan, right. Humanity had opportunity, but

strike three. Really the question is when you

get to the end of Genesis one through 11 is what's going to

what's God going to do for man who has struck out when it comes

to doing the will of God. God made us a perfect world.

We've messed it up. The curse of sin has come in

Surely the umpire of life's about to call strike three-year,

but do you remember a promise that God made back in Genesis 3

right after strike one? Remember a promise God made

Genesis 315, where God said from the woman will come one day, and

I'm paraphrasing one born of woman, the seed of one would

come one day who will crush the head of the serpent.

In other words, God was prophesying, God was

foretelling, God was promising the fact that one day one would

come to do for us what we had failed to do, that He would live

without sin, that He would fulfill all righteousness, that

He would live out the perfect will of God in our place.

So how is Genesis 315 going to come true?

How is God going to bless sinners that keep striking out

when it comes to His will? With Genesis 12?

One through 3 is really the beginning of the answer.

What's God going to do to bat for us?

What's God going to do to win for us?

This is how God is going to begin to fulfill the promise He

made back in chapter 3, verse 15.

Listen to the Word of God from Genesis 12, verse one through 3.

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 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. Father, I ask that as we open up

your word today that you'd make it clear to us that you would

Pierce our hearts, that you would draw us to obey, Father,

to put our faith in you and trust you and your will and your

promises for our lives. We pray in Jesus name.

All God's people said, Amen. How is God going to rescue

sinners who have struck out? How's God going to bat for us?

How is God going to win for us? What God, what is God going to

do for Genesis 315 to unfold? And by the way, what pattern?

This is what I really want to unpack for us this morning.

What pattern do we see in these verses of the pattern that God

invites us to embrace for our lives?

What pattern does God want you to embrace in your life when it

comes to saying yes to Him by faith?

This is the pattern of life we're going to see here in this

pattern that God uses and shows us in His Word through Abraham.

And here's the first part of it. You ready in your notes #1 God

calls us. We see in verse one that God

calls us. You see, Abraham here receives

God's invitation to participate in God's plan for his life.

I want to say that one more time, because this is, this is

true for you too. All right.

Here Abraham receives God's invitation to participate in

God's plan for his life. All right.

This is how God, by his own mercy and grace and love,

relates to us as sinners who struck out.

He invites us to join His team. He invites us to participate in

His plan by His power with him. This is amazing, right?

God calls us. God invites us.

He doesn't force us, He doesn't pressure us.

He calls us. And of course, Abraham's call

that we just read about here is incredibly unique, by the way.

That's true for all of us. In other words, no two of us

have the exact same call of God on our lives.

I want you to think about that God has a unique only for you

plan and purpose for you that's different than mine.

Now it all relates to knowing His Son and making His Son

known. It all is connected with being

made like Christ and fulfilling the Great Commission.

It all involves glorifying Jesus.

But God has No2 plans that are exactly alike for any two

people. Abraham's call was unique.

Your call is unique. And of course, here Abraham's

call was to pack, load, move and leave house, home, family,

country, kindred, loved ones, inheritance, everything he knew.

Here's I want you want something I want you to realize true about

Abraham's call, true about your call.

God's call always involves an element of leaving.

God's call always will involve an element of leaving, you say

Kyle. What do you mean?

It may not mean having to leave house, homeland, loved ones, and

everything you know, but it might to 1° or another.

You see, God's call will always involve leaving something,

somehow, someone. God's call will always involve

leaving to some degree, you say Kyle.

Why is that? Because you can't join God's

plan unless you abandoned your plan.

You can't participate in God's will until you say no to whose

will? Your will.

Embracing God's will for your life is always going to involve

an element of leaving behind something that you perhaps would

have chosen, that you would have kept, that you would allowed to

have stayed the same. God's call on your life is

always going to involve a matter of leaving, right?

In other words, to put it in mathematical terms, the math of

God's will for your life is always going to involve

subtraction. But this is where we as

Christians often go wrong. Why is that?

Because this is where we often refuse to let go of something

God caused us to let go of. In other words, lots of people

love addition, and I'll take Jesus in addition to everything

else I know and love. I'll take Jesus and add him to

my plan. I'll take Jesus and make him the

icing on my cake. I'll take Jesus and place him

between the bread of the sandwich I'm already making.

I love addition. We all love addition, don't we?

But God's will for your life always, always, always involves

some level of subtraction. But this is where we often go

wrong because we refuse. We often refuse to let go of

what God is calling us to leave behind.

God's call to Abraham was to leave house, to leave home, to

leave country, to leave kindred and go, go where did you notice

what God says to the land? I will show you now if you're in

Abraham's shoes, you're like, wow, God, that's real clear.

Not y'all awake this morning. Come on now, I know it's cold.

I know it's early. I mean God, don't you at least

want to give me a pin? Don't you want to give me an

address like drop me somewhere so I know like where I'm headed?

That's like, I'm going to show you man.

Just pack, just load, just leave, just go.

Unbelievable. How am I supposed to get there?

How am I supposed to know where I'm going?

How am I supposed to know the final destination?

Let me give you another little truth about God's call.

The call of God never comes with all the answers.

The call of God in your life will always require some level

of subtraction. And y'all, the call of God will

never immediately come with all the answers.

You can mark it down. You see here, the call of God

never starts with the final destination.

It always requires faith. The call of God does come with

the promise of God. I will show you.

And the call of God always comes with all we need to know to

follow. Let me say that one more time.

The call of God always comes with all that we need to know in

order to follow. In other words, God will always

give you the step you need when you need it, but God is not

interested in beginning to show you the final destination.

If he did, it'd probably mess us up.

If y'all were here for the FCA banquet on Thursday night, we

got to hear a man by the name of Ned Yost share his story.

It was an amazing story. Of course, you know, a very

successful baseball player and manager and of course it took

him a long time. He didn't come to faith till

later in life and then he realized God was calling him to

be a faith leader in the baseball community.

But it took him a while to realize that final destination

that God had in mind. This is what God does.

God calls us. Let me just stop and ask you,

have you heard the call of God to participate in His plan for

your life? Have you responded to the call

of God to be on His team and live His will and His path, His

plan, His purpose for your life? And have you said yes?

Have you been willing to let go of whatever it is God wants you

to let go of in order to embrace whatever it is God wants you to

embrace? And if not, I, I pray that you

hear God inviting you to His plan even now as I speak, that

you would say yes to God's plan on your life.

You say, Kyle, why do I need to say yes to God's plan?

Let me just kind of go back to the square one beginning and

remind us, right? Maybe this is for you if you've

yet to really understand the situation you're in spiritually,

That we all as human beings are sinners that have struck out of

the will of God and deserved to be called out forever.

We deserve God's separation from God, condemnation from God,

judgment from God because of our unrighteousness, breaking the

law of God, having sinned against God.

And yet God in his mercy, love and grace sent salvation for you

and for me. And if I could put it in the

words of Genesis, God didn't send salvation for us in a

wooden boat, but in a wooden cross.

And where we should have been, Jesus hung for us, paying our

sin debt, paying the wrath of God we deserve, so that we could

escape the coming flood of the judgment of God against the sin

of mankind, which is coming. And only those that are covered

by the blood of Jesus, having said yes to Him by faith, will

escape the flood of the judgment of God against the sin of

mankind. We've struck out, but God says

there's a way out. His name is Jesus.

If you'll place your faith and call on Him for salvation.

Have you done that? This is where the call of God

begins. This is where the invitation to

be on God's team begins. We don't deserve it.

God invites us. He won't pressure you.

He won't force you. He won't shout at you.

He lovingly invites you. Have you said yes?

God calls. Can you hear Him calling?

This is God's pattern #2 God calls second, God calls us to

bless us. God calls us to bless us.

Y'all. Abram was asked to do a ton of

subtraction in his life in order to say yes to God's call.

But here's another little truth about the call of God in our

lives. But God's addition.

God's addition always makes any subtraction he asked of us

totally worth it. God's addition always makes

whatever subtraction He asked of us totally worth it.

And I just want you to check out the math of edition that God was

calling Abram into. Notice this land, Abram, I'm

going to give you a land. I'm going to leave a home and a

home forever, a place that is particularly yours and your

offspring. I'm going to make you a nation.

I'm going to give you offspring and descendants more than people

can count. I'm going to give you a name and

identity. I'm going to give you blessing

and impact on the lives of others.

Abraham, I'm going to give you protection in My presence to go

with you. I'm going to invite you in to

fulfill My plan and purpose, not just for you, but for all of

mankind, for all the families of the earth.

Are you kidding me? Right?

I mean, unbelievable. Yes, Abram is asked to subtract,

but look at the addition that God is asking and inviting Abram

into. Listen, I want you to mark down

a couple things in your notes about this right here.

Number one, the blessings of God's call are infinitely

bigger, better, and beyond anything we leave behind.

The blessings of God's call are infinitely bigger, better, and

beyond anything and everything we could possibly leave behind.

You see, what I mean is the blessings of saying yes to God

always outweigh whatever earthly sacrifices God calls us to make.

You might say, well, Kyle, my goodness, if I if I knew the

call of God on my life was as big and bright and beautiful as

Abrams sounded like, I might be more excited too.

I might be willing to do some subtraction if I knew all that

was in store. And perhaps it's in that moment

we need to be reminded, right, that the very second we have

Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are infinitely better

and beyond anything and everything we could ever

deserve. Our sins have been washed clean.

We've been given new life. We've been given the hope of

heaven. We've been given the promise of

the Holy Spirit, the promise that Jesus will never leave us

nor forsake us, that he's going to guide us to our last breath.

We're going to see him face to face that Jesus is returning for

us. The very moment, the very moment

you have Jesus, you're always infinitely better than you could

ever deserve. Not to mention the truth that

now that we have Jesus, right, and that's bigger, better, and

beyond anything we could leave behind.

And then we can live life through the ups and downs and

the trials and tribulations, knowing that to live is Christ

and to die is. And then this light, momentary

affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory

beyond anything we could ever ask or imagine.

That what's coming for the people of God cannot even be

compared to whatever you might be asked to subtract in life to

follow Jesus. Listen, it's a joke compared to

what God has in store for you and for me.

It doesn't compare. Second thing to write down under

how God calls us to bless us is this.

The blessings of God's call are impossible.

Outside the supernatural power of God, the blessings of God's

call are impossible. We need to recognize that

outside the supernatural power of God.

You see, as wonderful as all these blessings sound, as we

read them and as Abraham heard them, it appears obviously

they're all not just improbable, they're humanly impossible.

Let's just break this down. Abraham is 75 when he hears this

call from God. Sarah is 65.

And remember some of these blessings, God said he was going

to give them land, name, nation, blessing, offspring, y'all?

They've been trying for years to have offspring to no avail.

They tried for decades. They've long given up hope.

Now that Sarah's had the hot flashes years ago, they've

really given up hope. All right.

This is a dead end. There is no physical offspring.

God, how in the world you going to do any of that?

This situation? God, you've promised me

something. This isn't just improbable, it's

actually absolutely impossible outside the supernatural divine

intervention of God. I'm just going to tell you to

receive the call of God and say, yes, God is always going to

require faith because God always wants to do and you only can be

accomplished by his supernatural power.

And you know what's so ironic? It's so funny how we often lose

faith that God could ever use us or do anything in our lives or

have a plan for us or do anything of eternal significance

with us. And it's like we forget.

It's like we forget that our salvation was impossible without

God. We're only alive and in Christ

because God has not just overcome the improbable, He's

done the impossible. Here's what I mean.

I don't think we appreciate this.

No one, the Bible says, can just say yes to Jesus when they want

to say yes to Jesus. Did you know that the Holy

Spirit has to draw them? Did you know the Holy Spirit has

to open your eyes? Did you know the Bible says

you're blind until God removes the scales from your eyes and as

of your heart can see the truth from the lies.

Then you realize your need for Jesus.

You if you're saved, that is a miracle of God.

And then why, if we're alive and a believer as a result of a

miracle of God, why would we doubt the plan of God only

possible by other miracles of God?

Wouldn't we just say, hey, if God did it once, God could do it

again? But nowhere like the Israelites

who got to see like 10 amazing plagues.

Then they get to the Red Sea and they're like, Oh my goodness,

what are we going to do? What, what where you been?

Where you been? What's God been doing right?

But that's how we live, is it not?

We like, we're like, where's God, you know, comes through

again, comes through again. Why would we doubt God has

powerful supernatural, not just improbable, but infinitely

better than we could imagine, plans for us when we're alive in

Jesus by the supernatural power of God.

You know, God calls us, God calls us to bless us.

Thirdly, God calls us to bless us to bless others.

God calls us to bless us to bless others.

Listen to verse two and three again.

God says, and I will make you a great nation and I will bless

you and make your name great. Watch this so that you will be a

blessing. I will bless those who bless you

and then who dishonors you, I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

The call of, of God on Abraham's life was never just about Abram.

You see that it was a small part of something much, much bigger.

Let me just tell you again, God's call on your life is never

just about you. This is something we take for

granted. We, we often think, well, my

choices about whether I embrace God's call on my life, that that

just affects me, that that's personal to me.

No, no, it's not. It's always going to ripple

effect in somebody else's life. God's call on your life is never

just about you. It is always about the plan and

purpose of God that He has for you in the lives of others.

What if Abram would have said no to God's call on his life to be

a blessing to all the families of the earth?

What if you were to say no to God's plan and purpose for your

life? How many people would it affect?

You can't even imagine. God's call on your life is

always a small slice of something much bigger.

And your response to God impacts the lives of not just your life,

but the lives of countless others.

Countless others are impacted on your response.

And by the way, your yes, can I put it like this?

Your yes to God's call on your life is God's invitation to

eternal significance beyond your wildest imagination Your yes the

God's goal in your life is God's invitation to countless to

eternal significance beyond your beyond your imagination.

Y'all, as soon as God tells Abraham that he's going to bless

him, he tells him. Why?

So that, so that you, Abraham will be a blessing.

Y'all, in order not to assume anything, let's just define what

it means to be a blessing. What is it to be blessed?

To be blessed right is to experience the favor of God.

It is to experience the favor of God.

What is the favor of God is being invited into a personal

relationship with God be to be blessed is to know God.

To be blessed is to experience God, to know his person, his

power, his presence, his protection, his provision, his

plan, his purpose. To be blessed is to be used by

God, to be accomplishing the will of God by his power,

spreading the knowledge of God, glorifying God.

All these things are ways, right, that the blessing of God

has experienced in our lives. And the greatest way, the

ultimate and greatest way that this promise would be fulfilled

to Abram is that through the line of Abram, a son would be

born. Not just any son, but the Son of

God, the promise, the promised offspring of the woman that

would crush the head of the serpent promised in Genesis 315

would come through the line of Abram, born a savior of the

world, bringing the message of the good news of the gospel.

That is that Jesus has done for us what we could not do for

ourselves to save us. Offered to the Jew 1st and also

to the Gentile. The way we put it in the

Christmas story, it's going to be good news of great joy for

all people. The way it's put here in

Genesis, in you, all the families of the earth will be

blessed. You want to jump to the New

Testament to see how it's stated in Galatians 3 verse verse 8 and

the scripture Paul writes what this is fascinating for seeing

that God would justify the Gentiles.

That's all the non Jews by faith preached the gospel.

Who first preached the gospel? God did the Bible said God

preached it to Abraham when he said in you all the families of

the earth we're going to be are going to be blessed.

God preaches the gospel before him to Abraham saying in you all

the nations will be blessed to this day and until the day Jesus

returns. The greatest way God uses us to

bless others is when we share the good news of Jesus with them

and how they can be saved. I just want to stop here for a

moment and I just want to continue to clarify something

that we talk about as a church all the time because we end

every service with as you go, you go to what in the world does

that mean? Let me just tell you what that

means. To make disciples.

To make disciples is simply to help others become more like

Jesus. That's it.

It's to help others become more like Jesus.

Now you say, well, Kyle, that's kind of got two parts to it.

It does. The first part of that is

introducing people to Jesus. They can't be like him.

They can't follow him. They can't know him until

they're introduced to him. This is why the Bible says faith

comes by hearing by the word of Christ.

How can they be saved without a preacher?

That doesn't mean a paid guy on a stage.

That means a Christian bold enough to open up their mouth

and say Jesus loves you, He died for you.

He wants to save you if you'll trust Him for forgiveness of

your sin. To make disciples is to

introduce people to Jesus and then to help walk people towards

obedience to Jesus so their daily lives they look more like

Jesus as they get to know Him right?

Making disciples means inviting people to church.

Making disciples means praying over people when you get an

opportunity. Making disciples means

encouraging A fellow believer in Jesus of how does it look to

follow and obey Jesus in life in ordinary situations and moments.

Making disciples dads looks like modeling Christ likeness in your

home. Wives, it looks like modeling

Christ likeness in your homes. It looks like parenting your

kids to disciple them to know Jesus, opening up the word of

God, living it out in your workplace.

Y'all it's it's, it's so simple. We lose sight of it sometimes.

Discipleship is just becoming more like Jesus.

What we're saying is when you leave here today, tomorrow and

until we return, introduce people to Jesus and help them

walk more closely with Jesus. That's what we mean when we say

make disciples. This is the blessing promised to

Abraham continuing to go forth through all the families of the

earth. Y'all.

This is the mission of God that he's been up to since the

beginning, preaching the gospel. This is the mission he's invited

us into. And this is the mission of our

church to make disciples of all nations starting right here to

the ends of the earth. I think we should just, let's

just remind ourselves of the basics.

You ready? Life's greatest blessing is

knowing God through his Son Jesus Christ.

That's it. You want to know what life's

greatest problem is when people don't know God through his son

Jesus Christ. The world's greatest problem is

lostness. That means spiritually out of a

relationship, not knowing God through his son Jesus.

Abraham, I'm going to bless your life so that you can give the

greatest blessing to countless others.

God calls us to bless us and use us to bless others.

Now, I want you to watch this for a second because I'm going

to kind of change gears here for a second to speak to something

that this text brings up. And I want to try to just be

very clear. I'm doing this just because I

think pastorally this is helpful for us as believers to process.

Notice this though, Abraham is blessed by God to be a blessing,

right to all the people. Did you notice that much of the

blessing that is promised is dependent on how people treat

Abram? Do you notice that?

God's like, hey, people that do this, I'm going to do this.

People that do this, I'm going to do this.

Do you notice that? There's kind of a conditional

situation here, All right, It says, I'll bless those who bless

you and him who dishonors you. I will curse.

Let's be more specific. God promises to bless those who

seek the honor, the good and the blessing of Abraham in his

offspring. And then God promises to curse

those who seek the dishonor, the harm, the hurt of Abraham in his

offspring. I don't know if you've noticed

this verse is somewhat of a lightning rod in our culture

today. Anybody see the Tucker Carlson

interview with Ted Cruz where this verse, this subject came

up? Anybody.

Few of you. All right, you can Google that

Ted Cruz took some heat for his lack of ability to really speak

clearly on a stance that he took on this right here.

So I, I, I want to just speak about this because when the word

of God brings up things in our culture that we ought to know

where we stand and how to process this is helpful for us,

right? So this verse, I'll bless those

who bless you, I'll curse those who curse you.

What does this mean? What does it mean today?

What did it mean then? What's it mean spiritually,

historically? What what does this mean?

All right, well, here's the deal, I don't have all the

answers, but I, I want to state some things that I believe are

true with all my heart. Now if you don't agree with

these things, you don't have to e-mail me today.

That's OK. All right, I realize people

don't agree with everything that I say, but you just take your

eyes to the word of God and make up your mind for yourself.

That's, that's what, that's what you're supposed to do as a

believer. All right, But let me just tell

you some things that I believe with all my heart are true.

And I've stated these, I'm going to read them because I want to

be very clear #1 these are not in your notes.

This is extra. This is for free.

God chose, God chose one man, Abram, and his descendants, that

is ethnic Israel, Jews, through whom he would bring the Savior

to the world #2 Satan hates these people.

Oh, these are on the screen. Look at here.

Satan hates these people and incites the world to hate them.

anti-Semitism, that is discrimination against or hatred

of Jews in various forms and degrees, has existed since the

days of Abram. It's hit seismic and tragic

proportions in world history at times.

It's on the rise again today. It's been wrong.

It is wrong. It always will be wrong.

It's not just wicked, it is satanic in its motivation.

It's wrong. Now let me say this, does this

mean, does this mean that one must politically support

everything Israel does or decides?

No, no, doesn't mean that. Does this mean we ought to seek

their survival, their good, their prosperity, and their

protection? Yes, yes.

I'm not being political, I'm just being biblical.

By the way #3 God repeatedly promised to give the land.

I want you to watch this one. God repeatedly promised to give

the land of Canaan to Abram and his offspring as an everlasting

possession. You don't have to look for in

your Bible. In fact, if you just look over

chapter 13, look at verse 15. Listen to this for all the land

that you see. I will give to you and your

offspring. What's that next word?

Forever, forever. God promised Abraham and his

offspring this, this land forever.

If you turn to Genesis chapter 17, I won't read all this, but

Genesis 17 · chapter mention

beginning in verse 7, it says, and I will establish my covenant

between me and you and your offspring that throughout their

generations, for how long a covenant, an everlasting

covenant to be God to you and your offspring after you.

I'll give to you and your offspring after you the land of

your sojournings, all the land of Canaan.

For here it is again, everlasting possession, and I

will be their God. I believe with all my heart the

reason why there's no Hittites, Hittites, Jebusites,

Girgashites, Amorites, other, whatever bites, but there's

Israelites. You know why?

Because of the promise of God, because of the covenant of God

with Abraham. You know why Israelites are in

their land today? Because of the promise of God.

Because of an everlasting possession promised of God, God

promised to give him as a it's a continuation of the promise of

name, nation, land, offspring #4 the land of Israel and Jerusalem

is at the center of God's plan for His return, His earthly

reign, and His creation of a new heavens and a new earth.

You read your Bible and I can show you verse after verse like

Jeremiah 317. This is at that time Jerusalem.

Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all

nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in

Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own

evil heart #5 It is true that the majority of ethnic Israel,

that is Jews, have rejected Jesus as their Messiah.

You can read about why in Romans Chapter 11.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

Because of unbelief, God has given them A hardness of heart

against the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Number six, some of the Jews have received and will receive

Jesus as their Messiah. The Bible says in Romans 9 and

Isaiah cries out concerning Israel.

Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the

sea, just like God said it would, only a remnant of them

will be saved. Only a remnant of them, a small

minority of them, are going to put their faith in Jesus #7

Ultimately, only Jews and Gentiles who place their faith

in Jesus will be saved. Listen to Galatians 37.

Know then, that it is those of faith who are the sons of

Abraham. Why am I telling you these

things? Let me just give you some very

practical things that are takeaways.

Whether you agree with what I've just said or not, I want you to

read your Bible for yourself. Let me give you some takeaways

#1 anti-Semitism is satanic. Don't be fooled, don't be fooled

#2 we ought to pray for and seek the blessing, especially the

blessing of salvation for the people through whom God brought

the Savior. And #3 wherever there is a

hatred of Jews, mark your calendar.

There's a hatred of Christians right behind them.

Always. Wherever you see a hatred of the

Israelites, which is satanically motivated, mark your calendar.

You're going to see the hatred of Christians right behind them.

It happens every time, y'all. So I got off a little bit of a

tangent on that. What's the point that I want you

to walk away with today? I want you to see the pattern of

life that God is inviting you in.

God is calling you. God is calling you to bless you.

God is calling you to be a blessing.

Have you said yes? Have you said yes?

I want to read you something that Philip, you sent me this

not long ago in an e-mail. This is Philip Archer.

That is, I printed it off. This is a little letter written

by somebody by the name of John Hatcher, and he's writing a

little poem about the reason why they're headed back to the

mission field. He he titles it, he'll refer

with the to it as the job they're called to do.

I want you to when you hear Job, I want you to hear calling.

OK, not everybody's called to go to Brazil as a missionary, but

God has a calling on your life. I want you to hear these words

and see how they might inspire and encourage you to embrace the

job, the call that God has on your life.

He says, dear friends, we're back in Brazil and here is the

reason why. The job I by sin, a worthless

slave, loathsome, lacking loss, depraved, devilish, damned

enemy, alien, arrogant nave. But God appeared with merciful

pardon, rich and free by word divine.

The Spirit said he'll run the race for thee.

He ran the course I did see as he neared the end, he fell

bloody beaten, but remembering me arose and reached the end the

tree and paid my debt. The hell by grace he, my race is

one. I'm no longer slave, but son, my

son, said he in loving tone. I have a job for you.

I need you. So for someone in the gap must

stand and preach. If other slaves my grace would

reach, will you do the job? Will you go?

I've redeemed in every land and tongue and tribe and trail.

Is your love enough to take the job?

Will you go or will you fail? My heartbeat to break, my chest

dragging back The old flesh cried What out there?

You'll have no rest, you'll die. And then the Spirit came, And in

his strength I said, I'll go, by your grace, I'll do my best.

And the old flesh was right. He's had no rest.

Too hot he cries of blistering sun.

Too dangerous to seize. I may die.

And he's afraid of robbers. Gun but the Spirit says remember

the elect he ran for them as well as you.

So to the plow do not look back just ahead keep Jesus in view.

One day soon I'll see him there who ran the race for me and I'll

see the ones who heaven share through the job he gave to me.

I'll take my crown with joyous heart and cast it at his feet

and say with sweat, pain, tears all through Father, thanks for

the job you gave me to do. God has a job for you.

Only question is will you say yes?

It'll appear improbable because it's impossible unless by the

Holy Spirit you say yes and allow Him to have His way in

your life. John and praise team are about

to come out. Here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to invite you to ask yourself where you are when it

comes to the call of God on your life.

Do you have things that are holding you back?

Are you refusing to do any subtraction?

Then I invite you maybe to step out from where you are.

Come get on your knees or stand. Use these steps as an altar

before God and tell God, God, subtract whatever it is you want

to subtract. God, help me say no and walk

away to whatever it is you want me to walk away from so I can

embrace whatever it is you're calling me to.

God, maybe I've been dealing with unbelief, believing that

you can't use me, that the plan's too big for me.

I'm unworthy, I'm incapable. The answer to that is all yes,

but God. But God, God, I'm coming today

to get before you. Just say God.

I believe because of you, I'm going to say yes.

I don't know the final destination, but I'll take the

first step. Maybe you need to say yes to

Jesus as your Savior, give your life to Him and start the whole

journey where God says start by faith in His Son.

If there's anything else holding you back, would you be willing

to come and give it to Him? God has a plan for you, bigger

and better and beyond anything you could ever plan for

yourself. If you'll say yes, I'm going to

pray that I'm going to ask you to stand and respond as God

leads you. Heavenly Father God, I want to

lift up. Every single person under the

sound of your word this morning here in the room, maybe online,

that you're calling to say yes, Father.

I pray they would by faith say yes, Father.

Whatever's holding them back, they'd let go of.

Whatever's keeping them from trusting in Jesus, they would

let go of. Whatever's keeping them from

living out the calling on their lives, they'd let go of and

embrace the pattern by faith of your call, Your blessing to be a

blessing and the Father We would see our lives impact the lives

of countless because of our yes to you in Jesus name I pray,

Amen. Would you stand with me church

family, I'm going to stand here. We'll have encouragers.

It'll be close. We're going to sing and worship

is your chance to say yes to God.

Don't let anything hold you back.

Let's worship him together. And you respond as the Lord

leads you this morning, you come.