WHY?
Powerful Passages
SO – good morning Maple Grove!
MAN – it is so good to be standing before you all today.
I MEAN – it has been a minute, right?
LIKE – the last time I stood up here was back on July 18th
9 weeks ago when we were kicked off our series ‘Powerful Passages’ by looking at a chapter in Philippians about how you and I can ‘Stand Firm In The Lord.’
NOW – I gotta be honest, I am running at about 50-60% right now (which is much better than 5%, AMEN?!)…
SO – I have…
• this chair up here, in case I need to sit down, and also,
• and I know it will break your heart, but there is a very real probability that my MSG this morning will be shorter than my normal…
AND - at this time all I can say is ladies and gentlemen is it is time to place your bets on whether this MSG will be over or under my usual 40+ minutes, (person next to you/hands)
PLACE YOUR BETS
OKAY – let’s do this, let’s…
• READ - the powerful passage that we are going to unpack this morning September 19th 2021, and let’s
• PRAY - that the Holy Spirit will move powerfully in and among us during our time of study…
SO THAT – we all leave here in (O/U 40+ minutes)
DETERMINED – to live more fully the life that He created us to live!
BECAUSE – right now, like… right at this very moment (as many of read this past Friday in Revelation chapter 4)
THERE IS – this power scene going on around the throne room of God… GOD – is on His throne… and His surrounded by 24 other thrones on which 24 elders.
There are flashes of lighting and peals of thunder.
AND – there are these for living creatures… one is like lion, another like an ox, a 3rd like the face of man and the 4th like a flying eagle… and these 4 creatures have 6 wings and they are covered with eyes all around, even under their wings and day and night, they never stop saying… LIKE - they are saying even now, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne, the One who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, worship the One who lives forever and ever, cast their crowns before the throne, and say:
Our Lord and God,
You are worthy to receive
glory and honor and power,
because You have created all things,
and because of Your will
they exist and were created.
- Revelation 4:8-11
UNDERSTAND B/S – it is really good for us at times to remind ourselves whose presence we are in and who we have gathered to worship – and whose words we are about to hear… ?! AMEN
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation.
I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. – Genesis 12:1-4
Prayer
MAPLE GROVE – the message I want to share with you this morning is one that God began to impress upon me, as I was lying in a hospital bed at Sentara, Martha Jefferson.
NOW - I think, most of you know…
• On August 10th after being sick with COVID for 2 weeks I was went to the ER across the street for the 2nd time because I was having a very hard time breathing.
• Unfortunately – an ER visit 8 days earlier, and 4 o5 5 calls to primary care doctor, did bring me any help or any early treatments.
• SO – by the time they were willing to help me out… I had full blown COVID Pneumonia, and 2 blood clots in my lungs, needing 6 liters of Oxygen to breathe.
• B/L - it was not looking good
• “Some get better/some do not”
• I made a Facebook post, asking people for prayers
Praying healing over you brother is Jesus name. This is the 100th comment/prayer for you in 1 hour! He is hearing all these prayers and you are in His Hands.
– Mike Putt
- 30 different states
- DR, Brazil, Northern Ireland, England, Germany, Japan, Romania…
• AND MGCC – those prayers made a pretty immediate difference…. X-ray just 2 ½ days later.
God is good, God is great – God is faithful
AMEN?!
NOW – during those first few days in isolation, with my wife sleeping and living in the car in the parking garage for 72+ hours.
• I had some powerful times with God
• Especially early on when I was unsure of whether I would get better… Like was my next move out of this room and going home or up to ICU, where the odds…
• However – in a few days, they moved me out of isolation from the COVID room, to a regular room… Laurie could move out of the garage and it was beginning to look like I was going to get better.
• AND B/S… this is when a huge question… began to take root in my heart and spirit…
• And that question was, WHY?
And let me tell you those 3 letters kept getting bigger…
IN FACT – they continue to grow to this very day.
AND LISTEN – this huge ‘why’ was not… “why did I have to get so sick...”
BUT RATHER – ‘why’ to God answer my prayers and the prayers of so many others… with a YES.
LIKE – why did God choose to bless my life with healing.
Why me?
YEAH - why me? And not so many other people.
YOU SEE…
• While in the hospital, a post came up in my news fed from a friend of mine in Florida… he was asking for prayer for Pastors wife… A Young mom, with small children who was in ICU with a fever that they could not get below (105)
Talking through glass/cell phone
Now she was a great Christian lady, with no doubt 100’s praying for her healing.
• And when I came home from the hospital I saw a Facebook that a friend of ours Leilani (a great Jesus follower and a traveling nurse)… God choose to bring her home (which I am sure she has no complaints about)… rather than to heal her body and give her more time.
• And early Friday morning… those 3 letters and that word why… why me? Grew a little bit larger again.
As I read on a Facebook newsfeed about a pretty young married pastor (Buddy Hamm) right here in Virginia went home to be with the Lord.
I even read some of the earlier updates his wife Kerri had made, and they seemed a lot like the ones my wife Laurie had made for me
WHY?
WHY ME?
WHY YOU?
MGCC…
WHY… Does God Choose To Bless Us?
I do not understand WHY God chose to answer my prayers and the prayers of so many others to bring about my healing.
Why me?
Why not Leilani?
Why not Buddy?
Why not the young mom in an ICU in Florida.
Why did God choose to heal me?
AND LISTEN… as this 3 letter word kept pressing in on both my heart and spirit…
IT STARTED - to become so much broader, than just my situation and journey back to health.
MGCC - why does God choose to bless us
Why did, and why does He choose to bless you
QUESTION…
• Why did God choose to bless you and I with the incredible gift of living in what ‘has been’ the best, (the most free and prosperous nation) there has ever been…
I MEAN – why do you think there millions of people trying to get here…
IS IT - because America is a horrible place to live.
SERIOUSLY – why did God choose to bless you by having you be born in America?
A place where we can gather and worship God freely.
A place where the only thing keeping us from gathering together as His church is… IS US
QUESTION – do think that our brothers and sisters living in Afghanistan… would like to live in such freedom
Do you think they…
AGAIN – why does God choose to bless us? LIKE…
• Why do you have those gifts and abilities
• Why do you have so much disposal income
• Why has life worked out so good for you
• Why have you been able to retire so comfortably and in many ways so worry free?
• Why were you blessed to hear the good news
I MEAN – is it because…
• you are so great and amazing and other people are not that great or amazing?
• God is a ‘good - good Father’ who loves to bless and give to His children?
YEAH SURE – that is part of it…
BUT LISTEN – there is a much deeper and far more reaching reason why God chooses to bless you and I…
Which brings us to our text in Genesis chapter 12…
Let me read it again… and as I do see if you can uncover this deeper and far more reaching reason why God chooses to bless us… to bless me… to bless me.
NOW – before I read the passage, I want to ask question (and raise you hand if your answer is ‘yes’)
Do you feel like God blessed your life with some pretty good and awesome things?
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation.
I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” – Genesis 12:1-3
Did you see uncover it as we read those God-breathed words?
QUESTION – why did God choose to bless us/you?
ANSWER – so that the lives of other people would be blessed through us/you…
NOW – I think almost everyone raised their hands and said that they feel that God has blessed their lives with good and awesome things?
SO – the question that each of us need to answer is…
Are the lives of other people
being blessed through your life?
WHY - did God choose to bless us/bless you?
ANSWER – so that the lives of other people would be blessed through us/you…
OKAY – here is the next point in your notes…
WHAT… Are We Going To Do About It?
LIKE – what are we going to do in response to God’s blessings in our lives.
OKAY – let me put it another way…
WHAT – should we, what should you, what should I do in response to…
A) God’s incredible blessings in our lives, and
B) His desire that these blessings flow through and bless the lives of other people
NOW – I think Abraham and our text can help us out a little here… MGCC – here’s the deal…
IF WE – want the blessings that God has poured into our lives to pour into the lives of other people
All the families on earth will be blessed through you.
We need to do three things and the all start with the letter ‘L’…
Leave
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you… Abram was seventy-five years old when he left – Genesis 12:1,4
YOU KNOW – one thing I love about this particular story is that if you ever feel like you are too old, or that you’ve wasted too much time, let too many opportunities slip your hands… Just remember Abraham… I mean – the guy is 75 years old, so you tell me you’re too old.
UNDERSTAND – it is never too late for you to begin living the life that you were created to live
BUT LISTEN – just as with Abraham, to begin living that life the first thing you must do is leave.
“Get It?”
QUESTION – exactly what do we need to leave in order for God’s blessings to flow through us?
ANSWER – we must leave a life that is centered around and on us.
IN 2002 - Rick Warren wrote a book, ‘The Purpose Drive Life,’ that quickly became a world wide massive best seller…
DID - anyone in here read that book?
IF SO – do you remember what the first four words of the book were?
It’s not about you.
AND THEN – he goes on to say…
The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness.
It’s far greater than your family, your career or even your wildest dreams and ambitions.
If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.
The search for the purpose of life has puzzle people for thousands of years. That’s because we typically begin at the wrong starting point, ourselves.
We asked self-centered questions like…
• What do I want to be?
• What should I do with my life?
• What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future?
But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose…
(Do you agree?)
He goes on…
Instead, you must begin with God, your creator.
You exist only because God wills that you exist.
You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that - life will never make sense.
It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.
AND UNDERSTAND B/S – following Jesus, being His disciple is totally incompatible, with living a life…
• centered on ourselves
• that is all about – our wants, our plans, our desires, our agenda, our way, our comfort, our convenience…
get it?
AND B/S – here are a few Scriptures to back that up.
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? – Luke 9:23-25
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
– 2 Corinthians 5:14,15
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20
WHAT – should we, what should you, what should I do in response to…
A) God’s incredible blessings in our lives, and
B) His desire that these blessings flow through and bless the lives of other people… All the families on earth will be blessed through you.
FIRST – we must leave a life… that is centered on and around us - our wants, our plans, our desires, our agenda, our comfort, our convenience…
AND YEAH – that can be pretty scary for some of us…
To do, or to do more fully.
TALK ABOUT - leaving and going to a land we have never been before.
I MEAN – if we are not looking out for us, making sure that…
Our wants, our plans, our desires and our agendas are satisfied… who will? LIKE…
• What might we miss out on?
• Where will it take us? UNDERSTAND – it might take us…
• AND - what will it (look and be like) to actually live more fully in this way?
I am not sure of the exact answers to those questions…
But here is what I do know, that you choose to take this road, that you are traveling in good company.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:5-11
SO – we need to leave (a life centered on and around ourselves) HAVE – you? AND… we need to…
Listen
AGAIN – that is what Abraham did?
So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him… - Genesis 12:3
MAPLE GROVE – to live a life where the blessings of God flow through and into the lives of other people
WE MUST – listen to the instruction, to the Word of the LORD.
AND UNDERSTAND – listening is much more than simply hearing the LORD’S instructions, it is actually doing those instructions.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. – James 1:22
What a great day at church, I really enjoyed and ‘listened’ to the message…
Yeah but did you do what it says?
You know I am afraid that sometimes we think that merely listening and agreeing with the Word when it is preached is good enough. It’s not!
UNDERSTAND – Abraham listened to the instructions of the Lord, and then in faith (believing and trusting in God) acted and did what the Lord said. That is why the God breathed these words in Hebrews 11…
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. – Hebrews 11:8-10
Abraham listened to the Word of the Lord.
And understand - throughout Genesis we God speaking to Abraham.
NOW - sometimes God would take on a physical appearance and sometimes like in Genesis 15… the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision.
NOW MGCC – I seriously doubt that God will speak His word to you in that same way… YEAH – it would pretty cool, but I do not think it is happening.
SO THEN - how can we hear and listen to Word such that we can have a faith that acts?
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
– Romans 10:17
You have to read this book, PERIOD!
Accept no substitutes or excuses!
And there really is no excuse.
And besides how will we know what to do and where to go without God’s instructions?
Such that we can have our own, ‘By faith’ statements…
WHAT – should we, what should you, what should I do in response to…
A) God’s incredible blessings in our lives, and
B) His desire that these blessings flow through and bless the lives of other people… All the families on earth will be blessed through you.
FIRST – we must leave a life… that is centered on and around us - our wants, our plans, our desires, our agenda, our comfort, our convenience…
SECOND – we must listen to the Words and Instructions of the Lord and ‘By Faith’ do what He says.
AND THIRD – we will see that pretty much all the ‘by faith’ things that we will do in response to God’s word came be summed up by the Word…
Love
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22:37-40
WHY – did God choose to bless our lives.
So that, He can bless the lives of other people through us?
All the families on earth will be blessed through you.
WHAT – are we going to do about it?
LIKE – what should be my response and yours, TO…
Leave, Listen, Love
AND… now, it’s wrap up with the final point in your notes this morning…
WHEN… Will We Act
WHEN…
AND ONCE AGAIN – we will grab a little from Abraham and from His call.
YOU KNOW – there is something interesting, the is easy for us to miss.
NOW – I know that we usually refer to Genesis chapter 12 as ‘The Call Of Abraham…’
IN FACT – every Bible I have read has had that title for this section, printed right above the chapter.
BUT – do you know that God called Abraham, prior to the words that we read in Genesis chapter 12…?
OKAY – check this out… because I think there is a powerful lesson for each of us here.
QUESTION – where Abraham was living when God called him the first time, and why did God have to call him again?
AND – to help us answer that, we need to turn to Acts chapter seven. DOES ANYONE – know what is going down in Acts 7?
Stephen has been seized and brought before the Sanhedrin (think of them, like the Supreme Court of the Jewish people at the time)
AND WHY – was he seized and brought before them?
BECAUSE – he was preaching about Jesus and when some of the Jewish leaders began to argue with him, they found that they could not stand up to His wisdom or the Spirit by which he spoke.
SO – what do you do, when you are losing the debate of truth, ideas and rational thinking?
Stir up the masses, shut him down and drum up some false charges against him?
And that is what they did. And we read in Acts 7
(which by the way is a powerful summary of the Old Testament)
Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.
‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. – Acts 7:1-4
Called where?
Settled where?
AND LISTEN – we see that back up in the book of Genesis chapter 11.
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there…
- Genesis 11:31
Stephen continues…
After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child.
- Acts 7:4,5
So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran
- Acts 7:4
But when they came to Harran, they settled there
- Genesis 11:31
OKAY – so, while living in Ur of the Chaldeans, Abram is called to leave… and go to the land of Canaan.
He travels about 600 miles and then decides to settle in Haran. QUESTION…
• Was that where God called him to settle?
• Why did he choose to settle there?
We don’t really know.
HOWEVER – I am sure that his excuses were as plentiful as ours can be, whenever we find ourselves falling short of where and who God wants us to be.
BOTTOM LINE…
IN - Genesis 11, we seeing Abraham falling short in his calling and settling in the land of Haran.
AND SO – as Genesis chapter 12 opens up we see God calling out to him again, telling him…
“I need you to finish your journey!” – The LORD
YOU KNOW MGCC…
I wonder this morning if God would say the same thing to us in this room or to those watching on line.
“I need you to finish your journey!” – The LORD
BECAUSE…
YOU - are not yet who or where I want to you be.
I did not call you, for you to settle in a land…
• Where life is still ‘for the most part’ is still centered on and about you
WHY – did God choose to bless your life
So that, He can bless the lives of other people through you?
All the families on earth will be blessed through you.
WHAT – are you going to do about it?
AGAIN – what, should be my response and yours, TO…
Leave, Listen, Love
WHEN – will you Act?
I would like to close with a quote from the book, “Wide Awake’ written by Erwin McManus…
I read this book about 12 years ago (kind of forgot about it, until I starting working on this MSG)
It is in a chapter called, ‘Discover,’ and he is talking about the call of Abraham.
I wonder if you’ve just settled because this happens to be where you are. It’s important to ask, why are you doing what you’re doing?
Do you have a career or calling?
Are you there by accident or by intention?
I understand needing to pay the bills. I get that there are times and circumstances were the best you can do is to do your best at whatever you are doing. There are those who do well simply to make it through the day.
The question remains, though: are you living up to your calling? Are you maximizing your God-given opportunities? Abram was called out to greatness, and he changed not only his life but the lives of generations to come. Ironically, those who don’t have the opportunity to live a life worth dreaming of need you to pursue great dreams for them. They need you to live up to your opportunity so they might have one…
When you live up to your greatness, the whole world is made better. The world cannot afford for you to choose average or easy. Don’t let the routine of life put you in a rut.
