FAITH EXPLORED: If you want to see God’s power, you have to be willing to step out. 2-16-25

FAITH EXPLORED: If you want to see God’s power, you have to be willing to step out. 2-16-25

INTRODUCTION

Pic – GLCC snacks

We are in the middle of a sermon series called Faith Explored. We have been looking at different stories of faith in the Scriptures and asking what we can learn from them about placing our trust in God. The first week we discovered that we often have to take the first step in faith in order to see God do amazing things within our lives. Last week we were challenged to keep our eyes on Jesus when our faith wanes because of the wind and waves of life. This week we want to explore what it means to faithfully follow God when he leads us, even when the path is unclear.

 

A dad told this story about a backpacking trip with his sons. 

“A few years ago, I took my boys backpacking in the mountains of North Carolina. It was one of their first backpacking trips, and I wanted to make sure they had a great experience. I went to great lengths to fit them with the right gear and chose a hike and campsite that would leave them wanting more. We traveled a few hours to the trailhead and set out for our destination. I had been to that location many times, so I kept the map in our bags, and we were on our way. Within minutes of hitting the trail, a dense fog rolled in and enveloped us. It was so thick that we could only see a few yards in front of us. I became nervous because, suddenly, I was unsure about the route we were supposed to take. My normal landmarks weren’t visible. I was uneasy about navigating the path on my own. We pulled out the map and compass and decided to let them guide us. It was difficult to trust those tools even though they are meant for that very application. I kept wanting to second guess them, but, sure enough, we eventually arrived safely at our campsite. Sometimes you have to put your faith in something more reliable than yourself in order to get where you want to go.”

 

Isn’t that just like life? Many of us have found ourselves in situations and circumstances outside of our control and were unsure of what to do next. It is in those times that we must rely on God as our map and compass to make it to the place he longs to take us. To do this requires faith. When we place our faith in him, we will see him do amazing things in and through us.

 

I.  God Has A Plan For Your Life.

 

A.  You have a purpose.

There is story after story within the Scriptures of God leading and guiding his people to new places and new tasks. It is always because God has an intention for those individual’s lives. God made them on purpose and for a purpose. The truth is that God has done the same with you. You were not created by accident. God made you with a plan in mind.

 

The beginning of the Bible tells the story of a world that was created good and perfect but was eventually marred by sin. All of creation spiraled out of control, and the author of the book, by chapter 11, wants the reader to ask the question: Will God do anything to make things right once again and restore his beloved creation? The answer to this question comes in chapter 12 through a man named Abram (later named Abraham).

 “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “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.””

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

God spoke to Abram about the plan he had for His life. God intended to use Abram and his family to bless the entire earth if Abram was willing to follow God’s lead. God was going to make Abram a great nation. He was going to make Abram’s name great. He was going to bless him. Why? For Abram’s sake alone? No. For the sake of a broken creation. So, no pressure, but he was being invited into a grand story that would change everything.

 

Should he choose to accept it.

B.  Have you accepted your purpose?

 

Notice that the stakes are high. Abram would have to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household. It was going to cost him something. It wouldn't be easy. And on top of that, there was no expressed destination. Abram did not know where he was going. Here is why. It was because following God is an act of faith.

 

We don’t need to exercise trust if we know how the story ends. We don't need  to have faith if we can do it on our own. For everyone who is here today: God has a plan for your life, but that plan may not be clear to you. Maybe you sense God wants you to accept a call into full-time ministry. Maybe God is leading you to serve your community in an amazing way. Maybe God is inviting you to make a literal move—a change of location. Maybe God wants you to take some kind of risk for him. Either way, it is highly likely that if you were to be obedient to God’s leading, you may be a blessing to someone or some place that you cannot see right now. One of my favorite missionaries who saw the value of obedience was named Adoniram Judson.

 

When Adoniram Judson graduated from seminary, he received a call from a fashionable church in Boston to become its assistant pastor. Everyone congratulated him. His mother and sister rejoiced that he could live at home with them and do his life work, but Judson shook his head. “My work is not here,” he said. “God is calling me beyond the seas. To stay here, even to serve God in his ministry, I feel would be only partial obedience, and I could not be happy in that.”

Although it cost him and was a great struggle, he left his mother and sister to follow the heavenly call. The churches that Judson started in Burma, now the country of Myanmar, have had 50,000 converts to Christianity. The influence of Judson’s consecrated life is felt around the world. 

William J. McRae, The Dynamics of Spiritual Gifts.

Is God calling you to something new? Something scary? Something big? Something hard? Are you willing to answer the call, even if you are unsure of where it might lead?

 

II. God Is Always Speaking. Are You Listening?

 

A.  God is always speaking.

Back when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse Code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background.

A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office. The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting area.

After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they hadn’t heard any summons yet. They assumed that the young man who went into the office made a mistake and would be disqualified.

Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, "Gentlemen, thank you for coming, but the job has just been filled."

The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, "Wait a minute, I don’t understand. He was the last to come in, and we never got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That’s not fair!"

The employer said, "I’m sorry, but the last several minutes while you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code. ‘If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.’ None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his."

Autoillustrator.com, LISTEN.

B.  Are you listening?

In order to live a life of faith like Abram did, we have to train ourselves to hear the voice of God. But what does he sound like? How do I know if he is speaking to me?

 

Throughout the Bible, God uses any means necessary to communicate to his people. He used a burning bush to speak to Moses about his plan to rescue his people. He used a donkey to speak to Absalom. One story of God speaking that I think gives us a way of hearing God’s voice is about a man named Elijah.

 

Elijah was an Old Testament prophet of God. He was used by God to do amazing things. At one point in his life, he had a showdown with a group of prophets of a false god named Baal. Elijah called down fire in a dramatic show of God’s power and the prophets were consumed by the blaze. Though he was a hero, he fled to the wilderness to escape the retribution of an evil queen named Jezebel. It is there, in the wilderness, that Elijah heard from God in a way that teaches us how to receive revelation from God and live with inspired faith.

 

 “The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭19‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

It is interesting that it is not until after all the loud, grandiose, and flashy things have passed that God finally speaks and comforts Elijah with his words. But rather than them coming in the wind, earthquake, or fire, the words of God come in a still, quiet voice.

Writer Charles Swindoll once found himself with too many commitments in too few days. He got nervous and tense about it. "I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes, and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions throughout the day," he recalled in his book Stress Fractures. "Before long, things around our home started reflecting the patter of my hurry-up style. It was becoming unbearable. I distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to her at school that day. She began hurriedly, 'Daddy, I wanna tell you somethin' and I'll tell you really fast.' Suddenly, realizing her frustration, I answered, 'Honey, you can tell me—and you don't have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly.’ I'll never forget her answer: 'Then listen slowly.’” 

Charles Swindoll, Bits & Pieces, June 24, 1993, pp. 13-14)

 

Like Charles Swindoll, we live in a world that is always listening to the loudest and most demonstrative voice. We are consumed by it through television, internet, and social media. But what if we are so busy and overstimulated that we are missing the still small voice of God all around us? I believe that in order to have faith to follow we must retreat to places of silence and solitude and listen slowly in order to hear God’s leading. This may mean you have to clear your schedule. You may have to say “no” to things, even good things. You may have to make intentional space for prayer and contemplation. These ways of living are contrary to the American way of life. But to live the life of faith is to live with our ears attuned to the voice of God.

 

III. Be Willing To Go.

A.  Willingness

Back to Abram. After God gave Abram instructions to leave and follow, even though the destination was undefined, it is worth noting that Abram did. He was obedient to God’s lead, and he became the father of the nation of Israel!

 

“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. 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. Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭12‬:‭4‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

B.  Action

It is one thing to hear God’s plan, but it is another thing altogether to step out in faith and go where he leads. There are countless families who have been transformed because someone was willing to listen to and follow God. There are stories of whole communities that have been impacted by a single person who took God seriously when he called.  The question is will you be willing to go where God leads? 

I am reminded of the great missionary Hudson Taylor. He was a great man of faith who founded China Inland Mission. He was dedicated to integrating faith and risk. He said this: "Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith."

Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.

Charles de Gaulle

Action should not be confused with haste.

Lee Iacocca

He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.

J. F. Clarke

Don't find fault. Find a remedy.

Henry Ford

The Complete Book of Wise Words and Quotes.

May we accept the invitation from God to risk for the sake of the Gospel. This morning we are going to listen intently to the still small voice of the Father and muster the courage and obedience to go wherever he leads. I invite you to pray this prayer with me.

 

CONCLUSION

Many years before Abraham Lincoln was elected president, he was a store-keeper in Salem, Illinois. Abe had a rifle displayed in his store that was one of the most beautiful rifles ever made. The barrel was made from the finest steel, the stock from the best walnut wood; and a world-famous gunsmith had assembled the gun. The price was extremely reasonable. Displayed next to this attractive gun was a rack of ordinary Kentucky squirrel rifles. These long-barrel rifles were made from ordinary gun steel, and plain wooden stocks. Yet, the price was higher.

A customer entered the store looking for a new rifle. He was impressed by the fine-looking gun, but was confused as to why it was priced much lower than the less attractive rifles. Abe explained that the good-looking rifle was for show, while the others were for shooting. The pioneer bought the Kentucky squirrel rifle.

A little while later, a rich farmer was decorating a room in his country mansion. He wanted to place a gun over the fireplace mantle with his big game trophies. Abe’s fancy gun was exactly what he needed. The fact that it would not shoot was irrelevant. The purpose of the gun had changed.

God has given each of us a purpose, too. We can choose to work for God’s glory and make disciples for Christ, or we can choose to be decorations in the church. What purpose are you serving in your relationship with Christ?

Don Holliday, The Scocaster - 10,000 Sermon Illustrations, September 27, 1998.

God has a plan for your life.  God Is Always Speaking. Are You Listening? You must be willing to go.

INVITATION

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins     and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.