Sermon Central
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Genesis
Contributed by Thomas Black on Jan 22, 2005 (message contributor)
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1. Learning To Let God Lead
Contributed on Jan 22, 2005
The transformation from defiant deciever to humble servant is never easy.
How many of you would consider yourselves a role model? I’ve got an interesting role model for you tonight. Turns out he was married ... twice... at the same time... to sisters! To top it off – at the suggestion of his wives he had a couple more ladies on the side (and his wives were OK ...read more
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2. Renewing Obedience
Contributed on Jan 28, 2005
There is a cost to following Jesus, but it’s not as high as the cost of not following.
Passage: Acts 7:2-4; Genesis 11:31-12:-7 READ ACTS 7:2-4, Gen... 11:31-12:7 Steven’s sermon in Acts gives us by the Holy Spirit’s revelation a glimpse at the first of two calls on Abram’s life. When Abram was still living in Ur, before he moved to Haran, God called him to pull up stakes, God ...read more
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3. The Foundation Of Failure
Contributed on Jan 28, 2005
Abram’s first failure was not decision to lie, nor was his primary failure the decision to go to Egypt; Abraham’s failure started when he failed to take God’s revealed word into account.
Passage: Gen..12:6-13:1 Abraham, when his name was only Abram was told to leave Haran when he was 75 years old (Gen... 12:5) So Abram packs up his stuff, picks up his family in the caravan and heads East Southeast. He proceeds down to Canaan, Where he worshipped God a time or two, and God ...read more
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4. Starting Over.... Again
Contributed on Jan 28, 2005
If you should look up one day this week and discover to your dismay that sin has crept into your life, I want to give you a strategy for STARTING OVER... AGAIN.
Passage: Gen. 13:1-4 It’s been observed that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is easy to see in our daily lives; how often do your victories give way to failures? How often does a great day end on a sour note? How frequently does a string of positive worship, ...read more
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5. Warring Over Wealth
Contributed on Jan 28, 2005
What are we to do when money becomes the battlefield? RECOGNIZE THE BATTLE; REMOVE THE REPROACH OF THE UNCHURCHED; RELEASE OUR RIGHTS; EXPECT TO RECEIVE A BLESSING.
Passage: Gen.. 13:5-ff I ask you this evening, what is it that divides and dissolves more relationships than virtually anything else? Of course, I’m sure that it’s not true of each of you, so perhaps it will come as a total surprise to you that the number one item that married couples quarrel ...read more
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6. Greed
Contributed on Jan 28, 2005
Greed with it’s power to grab hold of your soul will rob you of making wise decisions, and will turn you into a fool. Greed is costly, it’s not a cute little sin that just sits there being harmless, it’s robs, steals, kills and destroys all that you hold
Passage: Genesis 13:10-13; 2 Peter 2:7-8 A woman decided to have her portrait painted. She told the artist, "Paint me with diamond rings, a diamond necklace, emerald bracelets, a ruby broach, and gold Rolex." "But you are not wearing any of those things," he replied. "I know," she said. "It’s ...read more
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7. Join The Battle
Contributed on Jan 28, 2005
In this chapter Abram goes to war to redeem his nephew. We also are called into a battle to redeem those around us. Make alliances, use strategy and bring them back alive.
GENESIS 14: 1-24 Last week was missions conference and we sang a song called, "The battle belongs to the Lord." Tonight I want to talk about a battle in the Bible as it relates to a battle in our world. Our source is the continuing stories surrounding the Life of Abram in Genesis chapter 14. In ...read more
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8. Getting To The Heart Of The Problem / Or/ Honest To God
Contributed on Jan 28, 2005
Being Honest to God no matter how hard the questions, Opens the door for God’s gracious response.
Passage: Genesis (14:17-24) 15:1-6 When Abram returned from defeating those many kings in war, and after he had met with Melchizedek, and after he had refused to accept the reward money from the king of Sodom, God came to Abram to make him a promise. This aging man had just risked his life to ...read more
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9. So Let It Be Done To Me
Contributed on Jan 28, 2005
God’s covenants are irrevocable; He will not back out of his promises: he has staked his life on it.
Passage: Genesis 15:7-21 Rosee was an elderly lady who always sat in front of our family in church. She was a kindly lady and I remember as a child one occasion in particular where she gave me a butterscotch candy just before church. My understanding was that any time I asked her for one, she ...read more
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10. God Alone Shall Fulfill God's Word
Contributed on Jan 28, 2005
Man’s wisdom and men’s minds don’t accomplish God’s plan. When men try to fulfill God’s word apart from God, there is strife, contention, & failure
Passage: Genesis 16 Man’s wisdom and men’s minds don’t accomplish God’s plan There was a man who purchased one of those do it yourself kits from the sporting goods store. It contained all the parts to build a replica of the old muzzleloader guns used in days gone by. He pealed open the box, ...read more
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11. The Rest Is God's
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
God has called upon us to walk before him in holiness, and has revealed that he is powerful enough to make his promises come to pass.
Pastor’s note: I wanted to call this "A Cut above" but couldn’t bring myself to do it. Passage: Genesis 17:1-27 In Genesis 15 God came to Abram and introduced repeated to him the Abrahamic covenant and it’s central tenant; that of God’s undeserved blessing to Abram. God took Abram outside the ...read more
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12. Hospitality 101
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
Abraham’s encounter with three strangers can teach us much about hospitality as a church.
A mother invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to her six-year-old daughter and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?" "I wouldn’t know what to say," the girl replied. "Just say what you hear Mommy say," the mother answered. The little girl bowed her head and with sincerity ...read more
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13. God Of The Impossible
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
God Supplies The Tools For The Tasks That He Assigns
Have you ever thought God was asking you to do something you believed was impossible? Something you didn’t believe you could do? In his book, Just As I Am, Billy Graham writes of the following event. "One summer while in New Jersey, I was having lunch at a roadside diner when I was greeted by a ...read more
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14. Learning To Pray
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
The power of prayer is relationship; it is our relationship of knowing Both God and his plans that guided Abraham’s prayers - the same knowledge ought also to guide ours.
LEARNING TO PRAY: The power of Relationship in prayer The Lords Prayer starts out with words that are all quite familiar to us. Can you quote the first line for me? <pause> "Pray, then, in this way: ’Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. (Matthew 6:9) In teaching us that ...read more
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15. Lost In Lust
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
Living in a sex saturated world, we find ourselves remarkably like Lot struggling to keep a grasp on righteousness for ourselves and our children. How can we do that?
Tell the Story of the text.... There are a variety of lessons in this text, and I can only cover a few in the allotted time. 1) Homosexuality is a terrible sin The bible houses dozens of cross references to this very unpopular fact in our country. Romans 1:26-28 "For this reason God gave ...read more
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16. How Can God Use You When You Screw Up?
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
Why do Godly people sin? And can God possibly use you even when you’re testimony is blown?
Let me tell you a story about a Christian just like you and I. Let’s call him George for no good reason. George woke up Monday morning after a remarkable Weekend. Family time was well spent and The church services were excellent. He’d had testimonies of answered prayer in his own life and the ...read more
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17. The Arrival Of Hope
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
One overriding lesson of the Life of Abraham, especially as it relates to Isaac is that God is in control.
One overriding lesson of the Life of Abraham, especially as it relates to Isaac is that God is in control. That’s the message as we leave chapter 20 and move into chapter 21. In chapter 12, God promises Abraham a son. That promise is repeated throughout Abraham’s 25 year journey till this ...read more
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18. Being Blessed And Recieving A Curse
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
The Wicked have always persecuted the righteous; yet it is not our task to hate and hurt back but to turn the other cheek and bless them who curse us.
Genesis 21:9-21 is an Old Testament Passage with a New Testament Parallel familiar perhaps to some, but worth hearing all over again. < Read Gen 21:9-21; Gal 4:21-31> 1. Combined these texts cover our relationship to the Law and to Grace, and there are other lessons in here as well for ...read more
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19. H.a.g.a.r.
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
Hagar is for us a model representing single mothers everywhere, and her story displays both the problems and the solutions in God’s program for single mothers.
Genesis 21:145-21 In a time of great rejoicing, when everyone else would have been having a good time; Sarah looked over in the midst of the celebration and saw that Ishmael was making fun of her new son Isaac. Paul tells us in Galatians that he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him ...read more
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20. Doing Business In A Godless World
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
Somehow it’s become vogue to cut ourselves off from the world; but God isn’t done with this world yet. One area where God is able to use His people to reach the lost is in our day to day relationships with them.
You may well remember the story of Joshua. Joshua came after Moses and his Job was to lead the Israelites into the promised land. Because the Canaanites were wicked God commanded Joshua to kill every person in Canaan, because God didn’t want the Israelites to adopt the Canaanite lifestyle of ...read more
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21. Faith Measured
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
Do you have any faith? How do you know? How can we determine if our faith is real or if our faith is real strong? The true proof of faith is a test of faith.
Passage: Genesis Chapter 22 (All) The testing of Abraham’s Faith. Do you have any faith? How do you know? How can we determine if our faith is real or if our faith is real strong? The true proof of faith is a test of faith. And God sometimes brings us for testing for very closely related ...read more
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22. Unseen Preparations For The Future
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
Even in some of the most obscure passages of the scriptures God’s plans become evident if we’ll just look.
Back in Chapter 11 we were introduced to Abraham and His family. Abram was one of three brothers. The other two were Nahor and Haran. The growth and direction of this family is what the entire Old testament records. First we discovered that Haran had a son named Lot. Lot came along with Abram ...read more
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23. A Deposit On Faith
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
Our Father encourages us to release what we hold dearest in this world in order to deposit in heaven a treasure that cannot and will not fail.
When buying a house or another piece of property and you’ve made an offer price it’s customary to secure your intention to buy and establish a contract by making a deposit on your offer. This deposit is called "Earnest Money" and it is a personal guarantee to the buyer that you’re serious about ...read more
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24. A Marriage Made In Heaven
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
Isaac’s Marriage is a type of our own journey to build the bride of Christ (The church) through evangelism.
After this morning’s message ("Why shouldn’t Happy People Get married") I thought it a good idea to switch back to marriages that are good and right for this evening. I’d like to took at a marriage made in heaven, but not every marriage made in heaven has a Hollywood existence and ends with (Or ...read more
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25. All's Well That Ends Well
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
I believe that Abraham’s life closes well; and demonstrates for us a bit of the art of dying well which for a Christian demands living well.
"Ars Moriendi" is Latin for "the art of dying" or "the art of dying well". Specifically it refers to a common visual art practice common in the 16th century. Pictures would be carved into wood and then inked and press printed hundreds of times into books. Few of the books contained many words - ...read more
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26. God Is Faithful Forever To Keep His Promise
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
God’s promises are fulfilled even when we think he has somehow rejected us.
God’s promises are fulfilled even when we think he has somehow rejected us. Way back in chapter 16, Abraham, with the help of Sarah decided to hurry up the process of God fulfilling his promise. After all his promise had been delivered several years ago and nothing was going on. Surely God has ...read more
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27. The Divine Interplay Of Prayer In God's Unfolding Plan 1
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
This is the first 1/2 of a two part sermon addressing the link between God’s sovereignty to act without us and his requirement that we pray so that he can act.
I think in the last year we’ve learned much about what it means to pray. True enough most of our prayers are for healing and comfort but we certainly have been learning to pray by practicing I think. But praying, by definition is speaking to God, worshiping God, Thanking God, or imploring God to ...read more
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28. The Divine Interplay Of Prayer In God's Unfolding Plan 2
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
This is the second 1/2 of a two part sermon addressing the link between God’s sovereignty to act without us and his requirement that we pray so that he can act.
Returning to our study of Genesis tonight, we are in chapter 25 and the story of Esau and Jacob, the story begins with the prayer of Isaac that his wife might bear children and in this setting ends with a tragedy of faithlessness – and an interesting peek into God’s sovereignty working out in ...read more
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29. Like Father Like Son
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
My son and My God are both watching me, they both need to see "a long obedience in the same direction."
I want to live a Godly life so that my son will do the same. But when I blow it in my life that same little boy is watching, and learning and that’s a strong incentive for me to be careful in the first place. But most importantly I hope he’s still watching when Daddy repents. Because I know that ...read more
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30. Blessings So Big The Neighbors Notice
Contributed on Feb 2, 2005
God often works in our lives to separate us from the culture so that the people will seek him out in us.
I’d like to give you a scenario. Say you’ve moved into an average neighborhood – neither a rich nor poor one and over time you begin to become quite wealthy. So one day you head out to the car lot and you bring home a new Volvo C70 (completely loaded), and it’s parked in the driveway when you go ...read more