Good day dear friends. We continue our encounters with Jesus in the Gospel of John. Yesterday's sermon asked the question, "Would You Follow Him?" It came from the closing verses of chapter one, 35-51, which show Jesus calling the first disciples. The first two come from being disciples of John the Baptist. I posed the question, had there been a job fair for these two and the other ten, what options would they have had? Like us, survival is always tops, providing for our families, maybe not as bad as today, some seek fame, fortune and the perks that go with that, but they saw in Jesus what we can still see, an invitation to follow He who can share the everlasting things.
As we pray today, continue to pray for Zane Childress. I heard that last night Zane was given permission to spend the night with his parents in their motel room and the parents are hoping they allow Zane to be transferred to Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio. Please pray that this be possible and that God bring peace quickly to that region.
Here is our study guide for today:
Monday: The first invitation to follow comes in Genesis 12:1-5c. Notice how God called this first person and spouse and what God required of them. How willing would you have been to do as God asked? Make a list of things that make you comfortable right where you are right now, and what you could possibly gain if you left here to follow God.
Here is that text:
12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Har'an. 5 Abram took his wife Sar'ai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Har'an; and they set forth to go to the land of Ca'naan.
This first call and that first response make Abraham the father of the faith. He and Sarai were asked to leave country, family, and the comfort of their "father's house" to go to an unknown land. The promise was that God would bless them and bring to them wonderful blessings.
Would you have been able to take those first steps of faith? That first step into the unknown, like the disciples? We know that nothing in life is guaranteed, but with God we can surely trust Him. We can make that list of things that we really enjoy and that bring us comfort and then we ask ourselves, where would God have us be and do?
Could you leave the airconditioned comfort of your home to work the hot humid lands of the third world? If God called you, of course you could. Could you leave your big screen tv and soft recliner for lands where your entertainment might be limited to counting mosquitos? If God called you, of course you could, and the entertainment would be beyond description of the beauty of lives touched and changed by the Gospel, expressions of joy and hope on each face bringing to you things that "Raymond" or "Friends" never could.
Where IS God calling you? It might not involved moving away from your home, but indeed moving away from your comfort zone. Are you willing? What's holding you back?
The blessings you will receive are beyond description!
PRAYER: God of all people and all places, speak loudly the invitation to follow You where You would have us go. Convict us of our being comfortable and lazy, and lead us to where the need is greatest. Let us know You go with us and you share with us all the blessings of a greater life lived in Christ Jesus, through Whose name we pray. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
