September 4, 2022
Trust What You Don't Know to the One You Do
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
Hebrews 11:6 NIV
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
Genesis 11:1-2 NIV
"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there."
Genesis 11:4 NIV
"Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'"
In each failure we see the faithfulness of God.
Genesis 12:1 NIV
"The Lord had said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.'"
Can I trust an unknown future to a known God?
Genesis 12:2-3 NIV
"'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.'"
Everything hinges on this one man trusting God to be faithful.
Genesis 12:4 NIV
"So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran."
Genesis 12:5 NIV
"He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there."
Hebrews 11:8-10 NIV
"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."
We can all become like Abraham through faith.
Galatians 3:5-7 NIV
"So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? So also Abraham 'believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.' Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham."
The question for us is: 'will we respond faithfully to God’s call?'
Hebrews 3:12-15 NIV
"See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called 'Today,' so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.'"