“Xtreme Faith: The Unlimited Possibilities of Your Life”
Gen. 12:1-5; 13:14-18; 2:1-5
A simple sheepherder, named Abram, becomes the father of many nations. A youngest son, named Joseph, despised by jealous brothers, becomes second in command of a great nation and protects God’s line of salvation. A non-Egyptian baby, named Moses, ordered to be killed, is protected by Pharaoh’s daughter and leads God’s people out of slavery. A young boy, another youngest son, named David, goes from tending sheep to being the greatest king of Israel and the head of God’s eternal line of rulers. A young virgin, named Mary, becomes the mother of God’s Son. A simple carpenter, named Joseph, becomes the father of God’s Son. A baby, named Jesus, born in a manger, becomes the Savior of the world. A righteous, learned Pharisee, named Saul, whose mission was to persecute and kill Christians, becomes history’s greatest church planter. A boy, named John Foppe, is born without arms yet becomes an inspirational Christian witness and motivational speaker. All are testimonies to the power of Xtreme faith. All are testimonies to an awesome God who sees beyond earthly circumstances and appearances to the unlimited possibilities of life. He, in fact, sees beyond your earthly circumstances and appearances to the unlimited possibilities of your life. Your life, my life, could be so much more – if only we dared to live with Xtreme faith.
But just what is Xtreme faith? For an answer let’s look at Abraham’s life from which we discover at least three characteristics of Xtreme faith. First, THE ESSENCE OF FAITH IS RISK. Abram (that was his name before God later changed it) had a fairly settled, routine life. Like most of the Biblical patriarchs, Abram was not a king or a great warrior, a priest, or even a religious leader. He lived in a tent, moved from pasture to pasture and well to well with his family and livestock. He lived in and around Ur, one of the most important cities in the world. It was a busy commercial center in Mesopotamia on the Persian Gulf, bordered by the Euphrates River. Ur covered about 4 square miles and had a population of about 300,000 and her residents were highly educated. Religiously the people worshiped many gods, especially nature gods and a moon god.
One day, in the midst of this environment, the Lord spoke to Abram and said (Gen. 12:2) “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” Our faith is always challenged when GOD CALLS US TO MOVE. God does not let his people settle in and get too comfortable. In the Old Testament we see God constantly moving his people from one place to another, from one experience to another. God is always offering new futures
and new beginnings. Remember what happened after Jesus rose from the dead? Two women went to the tomb where an angel met them and said (Mt. 28:7), “Go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.” Leave here – go there. Stop looking here – start looking there. Move on to the next leg of your journey. So God told this normal, average sheep herder to move. God had a plan and a place for him.
God has a plan and place for you as well. No matter what your age, your past, your present, your circumstances, God has a plan and place for you. Don’t ever count yourself out; don’t assume God only uses others; don’t think He’s finished with you – if He was finished with you you’d be in your heavenly residence. Don’t think you’re unusable, not special enough, or not qualified. God even used Abram. Paul wrote (Phil.3:12-13) “…continue to work out your salvation…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” To help you God will always, when it’s time, call you to go, to move on to the next leg of your journey. He alone knows the unlimited possibilities of your life.
But notice that GOD CALLS US TO TAKE RISKS. When God called Abram to go, he didn’t even tell him where he was going! He simply said “…go to the land I will show you.” Abram had nothing to go on but trust in and reliance on a promise of God. It was Abram’s version of going on a mystery trip – he was being asked to board the bus while not knowing the destination; all he had to rely on was that he knew the bus driver. And trusting in such situations is not easy. We believe and trust; we just don’t believe and trust enough to take a risk.
A physics professor had just finished a lecture in which he had shown the mathematical proof that an untouched pendulum will always swing in ever-decreasing arcs. He asked for a volunteer to demonstrate this fact by standing against a wall with a pendulum bob against his chin, then releasing the bob and allowing the pendulum to swing naturally through its arc. He reminded the class that the bob would return almost to, but not quite touching, the chin. No one volunteered. The students believed the law of physics was true, but they didn’t believe enough to take a risk. How like us as we respond to God’s challenge to take a risk. We feel much more comfortable within the limits of what we can do on our own, to stick with the familiar and known. As Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie wrote, “Our fear of risk keeps us away from anything we cannot control or do with our own ability…When we do ask for God’s help, our prayers are often for his power to do what we think is best. He is gracious to respond, and our Christianity settles into the set of self-determined possibilities.”
Taking the risk is made even more difficult because GOD OFTEN CALLS US TO LET GO. It’s important to note that God’s original call to Abram was to leave his father; yet according to chapter 12 his father went with him and they wound up settling in Haran (11:31). He didn’t move on until his father had died. Because Abram wasn’t willing to totally let go, his faith journey was delayed. But that’s just like us, isn’t it? We’d rather remain in the comfort of the familiar – even if it’s not a good situation – than move into the unknown. For many it’s easier to remain in the throes of alcoholism than to go through the rigors of letting it go. For some it’s easier to remain in a stale or broken marriage than to go through the pain of reconciliation and healing; it’s easier to remain lonely than make the effort of building relationships; it’s easier to remain ill than to go through the process of healing and rehabilitation. For some churches it’s easier to keep everything the way it’s always been than to cope with new people, new thoughts, and new ways of doing things. Yet even Jesus says that for followers to become disciples they must leave everything.
What are you unwilling to leave? What’s become comfortable for you? A career? A handicap? A relationship? A possession? A habit? What are you unwilling to change? To what are you clinging for dear life? God calls us to let go so He can move us forward and give us something even better. I often think about what I let go of when I realized God wanted me in the pastoral ministry; it was hard. But looking back, I’m glad I let go. (I only regret all the times I have refused to let go and wonder what I have missed!) The only way to discover and fulfill the unlimited possibilities of your life is to take the risk of moving on and letting go. The essence of faith is risk.
A second characteristic of Xtreme faith is that FAITH TAKES RISKS BECAUSE OF SOLID PROMISES. To Abram God said (12:2-3), “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” GOD’S CALL RESTS ON HIS PROMISES. God may not have told Abram anything about the new location but He did tell Him the results of going. God doesn’t give reasons, just rewards and results. After Abram’s father died and Abram moved on and came to one of God’s stopping places, God said (13:16), “All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.” The late F. B. Meyer stated it well: “As a shell encloses a kernel, so do the Divine commands hide promises in their heart.” Think about Scripture. It tells us if we believe, we will be saved; if we sell all we have and give to the poor we will receive treasure in heaven; if we leave father and mother, houses and lands, we shall receive a hundred-fold and everlasting life; if we remain in Jesus He will remain in us and will give us whatever we ask.
WE can take the risks of faith because GOD FULFILLS HIS PROMISES. As Steven Furtick states in his book Sun Stand Still – What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible’, “…our audacious faith is not built on the fault lines of feelings or the flood plain of our performance. We build our faith on solid ground. Higher ground. We build on the faithfulness of God.” Abraham was not perfect; he was a liar. His grandson Jacob was a crook. Further down his line King David became an adulterer and a murderer. Yet Abraham has blessed the nations. The Arabs, descendents of his son Ishmael, and Moslems throughout the world worship him. The Jews look upon him as the founder of their nation, and Christians honor him as the father of the faithful. And from Abram’s line was born Jesus Christ. Certainly God was faithful to His promises to Abram. We can move forward in faith because God fulfills His promises.
In fact, IF WE DO NOT RISK WE FORFEIT THE BLESSINGS OF THE PROMISE. Abram had to walk on and into the promised land before it was truly owned it. (13:17) “Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” Through this act he of walking he claimed the promise of God. God’s promises don’t just fall into our laps; we must take possession of what God promises us. God said the same thing to Joshua (1:3) “I will give you every place where you set your foot.” Repeatedly God told Israel to go in and possess their promised land. So God told Abram the land was all his by right, but he had to walk an acre to own an acre, walk a mile to own a mile; When he climbed a hill he owned the hill; when he walked through a valley he owned the valley. When God makes a promise to us, we must walk in the promise, live by the promise, to own it.
If we do not claim the promise, God’s plan will still go forward but we will forfeit our ownership and blessing that lies within it. If Abram had refused to leave everything and go, if he had not walked the new land, he would either have radically delayed the plan of God or lost out on all the blessings that obedience and trust would bring. Case in point: remember the account in the book of Numbers? The Israelites were at the border of the Promised Land. God had told them it would be theirs. He asked them to send in one spy from each tribe – 12 in all – to check it out. 10 who came back said that while that land was everything God said it would be and had everything He said it would have, they couldn’t go in. The people were too big, and too powerful among other things. Remember what happened? God’s plan went forward – Israel made it into the Promised Land. But not that generation! They forfeited the opportunity. What in your life do you not understand? What test do you believe is too demanding or unfair? Through what darkness is God asking you to walk? Do you trust God? Realize that God’s goal is to bring us to the point where we trust Him fully and are therefore willing to walk forward even in the darkness where we cannot see our way. As the author of Hebrews put it, “Faith is… being certain of what we do not see.” Jack Hayford wrote: “People who have to see the sunrise to be sure another day is coming are people who will live in the fear of the dark forever. But people who know that God has ordered the course of this world – and that the sun is going to come up – don’t worry about the darkness of the night. They are secure in the confidence that another day will dawn.” God is calling you this morning to be obedient because you trust Him.
The third characteristic of Xtreme faith is, therefore, to acknowledge that FAITH RISKS PAY DIVIDENDS. Chapter 22 of Genesis brings the faith journey of Abram, now named Abraham, to its highest point. God had asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, his promised heir through whom all the promises of God would be fulfilled, upon the altar. Abraham was obedient. On Mount Moriah he raised his arm to lower the knife when he learned THE DIVIDENDS ARE GUARANTEED. (22:13) “Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide.” The dividends are guaranteed because the Lord will provide. A lamb in a thicket was God’s designated replacement for the required sacrifice. Abraham did not have to sacrifice Isaac. God had a designated replacement. It’s not so much that Abraham was faithful as that God was faithful. God had tested Abraham, but Abraham had tested God – and both passed! Here’s where it gets interesting. Many scholars claim that Moriah, where this all took place, was eventually a place called Calvary - where God also provided a Lamb. God had another, more permanent designated replacement. And whether or not Moriah is Calvary, the other Lamb, Jesus Christ, was sacrificed. We do not have to earn anything to receive God’s provision. The Bible (Romans 8:32 NLT) proclaims, “Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?”
Realize that GOD WILL PROVIDE FOR YOU. In English, the word “provide” comes from the words “pro video” – to see ahead or before. From it we get our word providence. God sees and knows ahead of time what we need and is always ready to give it. When he asks us to sacrifice our Isaacs, He’s really announcing that He has something more, something greater, to give. As Paul triumphantly preached, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
But TRUST is the key THAT RELEASES THE PROVISIONS OF GOD. God’s plan for Abraham was far greater than Abram could ever have dreamed up for himself. But until Abraham was ready to give it all up, until he was ready to lay his present and future on the altar, until he was ready to offer his life and destiny to God that God designed future was only a dream. When Abraham was ready, however, he gained his unlimited future and turned the key to open up a blessed life. What are you refusing to leave behind, to give up? Is hanging on worth what you will forfeit? Are you in danger of missing out on the fulfillment of God’s promises in your life? Only when Abraham trusted God enough to give up everything, even though he didn’t understand God’s way, did he receive the provisions of God. Quoting Steven Furtick again, “Our faith and God’s faithfulness work together when we trust him to do great things…If you’ll do the believing, he’ll do the achieving.”
This morning I challenge you to take a risk of faith. Perhaps God has sent you into Moriah to sacrifice your Isaac. He may be asking for more than you bargained for. He might be asking you to do what you do not want to do or go where you do not want to go. It’s possible He’s asking you to let go of the familiar and routine and enter an unknown territory. He has something richer in store for your life – but He’s waiting for your surrender. Maybe you’ve never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but right now He’s prodding you. Perhaps you accepted Jesus long ago but you’ve gotten all too comfortable and slipped away from Him – or you know you’ve turned away – and right now He’s inviting you to come back, fully surrendered. Or you’re looking for the fuller, richer blessing that seems always to escape you – and now you realize it’s because you‘re holding something back. Whatever it is, right now Jesus is waiting for you to climb the mountain, to take the knife, and trust Him for your Lamb. Do you believe that on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided?
Bring that which you are withholding from God – your greatest love, your wealth, your job, your time, your accomplishments; your sexual desires, a special relationship with someone, your marriage; your sin, your guilt, your grief; your pride, your selfishness, your ‘rights;’ your anger, your bitterness; your unwillingness to serve Him, your hesitation to obey Him, your fear of trusting Him; your attempts to control your something in your life – whatever it is, God is giving you an opportunity to lay it on the altar – not to sacrifice it to earn something from Him, since He’s already provided the sacrifice – but to release it to Him. Then He can return it or replace it according to His riches in Christ Jesus.
