Men Of Promise!

Men of Promise

Pastor Glenn Newton 6-17-01 Father’s Day

1CO 1:26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were

wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak

things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and

the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, 29 so that

no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who

has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and

redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

This morning I want to tell you how important it is to be Men of Promise, and

really, for everyone, we need People of Promise. What do I mean by that? Let me read

you a quote I found, I couldn’t find who said it, but it was good,

Nothing binds us one to another like a Promise kept and nothing divides us like

a promise broken.

I think you would agree with me that we have found that statement to be true in real life.

Did any of you have a tough week this week, just everytime you turned around, something

was breaking down, or something was missing? I had one of those weeks.

My truck battery went dead, I had to replace it. I was coming home from the

Alexanders and had a flat tire, no problem, except my spare was almost as flat. Replaced

all four tires. My whole office is in boxes at my house. The printer that prints out your

bulletin every week, went home to printer heaven, had to buy another one. Other than

that, everything went pretty smooth.

ILL. This man was having a real hard time. His business was falling apart, his wife was

leaving him because of the financial problems. He couldn’t meet the mortgage payments

on his home.

One day he is driving into work, and he has an accident. Soon, a policeman is

writing out a ticket and an ambulance is coming because the guy in the other car has been

hurt. The businessman doesn’t know if his insurance is up to date and he’s had about

enough.

He looks up and says, “God, Why me?” And a big voice comes booming out of

the sky and says, “Well, Sam, the truth is, there’s something about you that just ticks me

off.”

Ouch! Now that’s a tough week. Now aren’t you glad no matter how rough your week

has been, no matter all the things that have seemingly went against you, you can know that

God is not out to get you. God is not fickle, He is not out to get us. Sometimes life just

gets tough.

One of the most impressive characteristics about God is that He is a God who

makes covenants, or promises, and He keeps them. Aren’t you glad God keeps His

promises to us?

Remember Abraham? God said, “Pick up all your office equipment, all you stuff, all your

family and go to another country that I will show you, and if you obey, I will bless you

beyond your wildest dreams.” Abraham became the Father of Nations because of his

willingness to trust in God. God kept his Promise.

You remember Moses? Remember the burning bush? Moses was a man who didn’t feel

very good about himself, he stuttered, he didn’t see himself as a leader, and he had a

sorted past, he had killed a man. Yet, God promised to use him to deliver the Israelites if

he would be obedient. God delivered on His promise.

I believe our passage this morning, this message is what God has put on my heart to share

with you, the men of this church, the dads, the husbands, the granddads, the future dads,

for some of you. Let’s look at verses 26-29

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were

wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak

things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and

the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, 29 so that

no one may boast before him. Vs. 26-29

I believe that God is looking for Men of Promise today, I believe God is raising Men of

Promise in our Country, because it’s going to take strong Christian Men of conviction and