Rev. Brian K. Brown, Pastor, St. Mark M.B. Church
Sermon Series: Facing What’s Forward | Scripture Reference: Genesis 12: 10- 13
Last week, our conversation on the topic of “Facing What’s Forward” reminded us that we serve a God of great, greater, and greatness! Unfortunately, we hear these words and begin to create our interpretations of how this “great” shall be defined. In other words, we tend to specify how we would like greatness to look in terms of our own measuring stick, which causes the propensity to be outside God’s will. As we again allow Abram’s narrative to be our anchor, we discover three points for consideration. Previously reported, point one was this mindset could cause us to travel outside God’s will. Note Abram, his wife, and nephew Lot left the place God directed him to reside because the conditions did not meet his personal needs or expectations; there was a famine in the land. As a result, they traveled down to Egypt because he heard the food was plentiful there; however, this was not where God declared He would make Abram great. Now, consider the following three points when wondering: What Happens When It Does Not Go as You Thought it Should?
Point 2: “We Can Trust in Something Other Than God’s Ways” – For example, old lifestyles and ways that seem to produce the outcome we were hoping to gain can become our strategies for moving forward instead of moving forward with God by faith. Believe God makes promises He can keep and does not need our intervention. Trust that He knows how to make our lives prosperous!
Point 3: “We Can Turn Back From Believing God’s Word” – “And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai, his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore, it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.” (Genesis 12: 11 – 13). Moreover, Abram’s request to withhold the whole truth about his relationship with Sarai provides evidence of his wavering or lack of belief in what God had promised. Recall that God declared unto Abram that He would make him great. When we walk with God and trust the promises He has spoken over our lives, there is no need to amend the script or plan. We can trust God at His word that the covenant shall manifest in time and with time, but not by our might.
Finally, we should agree hearing God’s promises is lovely and excellent, but we must be careful not to get ahead of God. We can do this quite easily and thus find ourselves outside of His will and doing things to assist an almighty God that needs no assistance. God is a strong God and does not require more than our willingness to participate in obedience. Trusting what we can not see may be challenging at times; however, it is impossible to please Him without faith. God has come to develop and not destroy, so let us be faithful and move forward with God leading the way to “great, greater, and greatness.”
