Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
"You Can Take A Flying Leap"
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 March 8, 2009
What is faith? In the book of Hebrews we read that faith is the assurance of things hope for, the
conviction of things not seen. In other words, faith is believing without seeing.
Now I know a lot of people outside the church think religion is nothing more than a feel good
philosophy. You make things up that help you focus on the positive. Norman Vincent Peale, Robert
Schuler and Joel Osteen have made a career out of positive thinking. But our faith is so much more
than that.
You see our faith is built upon our experience of a God who cares and acts on our behalf. We
have the testimony of scripture to back it up. What’s more, many of us can validate the reality of it
through our own personal experience. God has been there in the dark night of our lives.
The hymn we just sang, “Great is they faithfulness”, speaks to God’s presence in our lives.
Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath provided. Great is thy
faithfulness, Lord unto me.”
Faith is born out of the experience that God has been there for us in the past and he will be there
for us in the future. I like the story told about
One night a house caught fire. And a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood
on the ground below with outstretched arms. He called out to his son, "Jump! I’ll catch you." But
the boy hesitated. Because all he could see was flame, smoke, and blackness. So as you can
imagine, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Don’t worry! Jump! I’ll catch
you!" But the boy protested, "But Dad, I can’t see you!" The father replied, "But I can see you and
that’s all that matters."
The boy went ahead and jumped. Not because he could see where he was jumping. But because
he trusted his father to catch him.
That’s what faith in God is. It seems like it is taking a flying leap into nowhere. But it is really
trusting God to do what he does, even when we can’t see him.
That’s what Abraham did in our story today. God told him he was going to have a son and that he
would be the father of a great nation. At ninety nine years old, this was a stretch, but he had faith in
God. You would have to be kinda’ crazy to do what he did. He left family and friends in the land of
UR to go into the wilderness with God. They lived in tents and were totally dependent on God.
What happened? God took care of all their needs. Some called Abraham “the friend of God.” The
point is that Abraham’s faith was honored by God and now he is called the father of faith.
Now that doesn’t mean he was perfect or that he never had doubts. When God tells you that you
are going to have a son at 99 years old, when your one and only wife is ninety, you may be a bit
skeptical. Abraham was. That’s why he took things in his own hands and slept with his maid,
Hagar. She produced a son and Abraham thought this is what God meant.
The funny thing is that God doesn’t settle for things. He could have stopped there and let
Abraham go on believing that Ishmael was the son of promise. He could have punished Abraham
for his lack of faith and rescinded his promise. He could have made life more difficult for Abraham
and made him pay for his lack of faith. Instead God forgave Abraham and delivered on his promise.
Isaac was born and Abraham became the father of a great nation.
The good news is that God’s faithfulness doesn’t depend on us. God’s word is true no matter
what we do. He is dependable. He can be counted on. Like with the father in our illustration, we
can take a leap of faith and God will always be there to catch us.
So the first thing you need to know about faith is that it is not about you and me. Faith is about
God.
When God approaches Abraham he says, “I am the Lord God almighty.” In other words I am
who I am. I am powerful and able to do all things. God is reminding Abraham that he is the creator
of the universe. He’s the one who put the stars in the skies. He is the one who created every living
thing. So if he wants to impregnate Sarah… he can do it because he created her.
I think we need to remember that. J B Phillips wrote a little book entitled, “Your God is Too
Small.” In it he talks about the fact that most of us limit what God can do with our lack of faith.
We just don’t believe God can do very much so we never test him. The truth is that God wants to
do so much more for us, but we never ask him.
Have you ever read Rabbi Kushner’s book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People?" It was
really popular years back. I used to always recommend it to people when they were going through
a rough patch. But I have changed my mind recently. You see near the end of the book, he says "I
believe in God. But I don’t believe the same things about him that I used to. I don’t believe God is
all powerful. I don’t believe he gets involved in our personal lives. I think he leaves a lot of things
up to us."
I just don’t buy that. One of the things I love about God is that he has the ability to do whatever
he wants. His hands aren’t tied at all. Do you remember the story of the Ten Commandments in
Exodus chapter 20? Do you remember the very first thing God says in the Ten Commandments?
He said, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." In
other words, I am your all powerful, all loving, all caring creator. I was there for you in the past.
And I’m here for you now. You can trust me."
There is a new best seller out today called “The Shack.” It’s fiction but in it’s story, it does a
good job laying out the way God interacts with us. It makes sense out of the senseless.
Julie Wagner sent me an e-mail yesterday about that accident on 395 where a group of people
heading off on a mission trip was hit by a drunk driver. One young lady, Elizabeth Durante, was
killed. It doesn’t make sense to me, especially after just returning from a mission trip. Why would
God let that happen to people who were out doing his will? It’s enough to make you stop and ask if
serving him is really worth it.
Yet faith is the convictions of things not seen. That means that even if we don’t understand
something, it doesn’t mean God isn’t at work. Just because WE can’t see it, doesn’t mean
something good can't happen. God has this crazy ability to turn tragedy into triumph.
Jacob & Esau…
Joseph…
Moses…
Jesus…
Our faith tells us that there is more going on than we will ever know. One day last week June
Deptulski and I were walking through the neighborhood of the church we served last year.
Suddenly we hear someone calling out June’s name. It was absurd. No one knew us there. But then
this young lady comes up to us and begins talking as if we were old friends. It dawned on us
afterwards that June had made a quite an impression on this girl even though June didn’t remember
her.
Later that night a few of us heard another woman tell us how her life was changed forever when
a group of short term American missionaries came to a Vacation Bible School like the one we were
at that night. She was saved through that event. It made me stop and think about what we were
doing. It seemed so insignificant and yet God was using it to answer prayers.
I left feeling amazed at the way God works. He has a plan and a purpose and he will see it
through. He uses us and every circumstance to see that his goals are achieved.
Four times in our text God says "I will." "I will make you fruitful. I will make you into a great
nation. I will establish my covenant with you. I will give this land to your descendants." I will. I
will. I will. I will!" And if you read the rest of the Bible, you’ll find out that all of those I wills came
true just like God said they would.
That gives us a wonderful platform for our faith. It doesn’t matter who you are. Your faith will
help you accomplish great things. I was reading about Christopher Columbus. Back in 1492, he
wanted to sail west to get to India. And a lot of people said he was crazy. They told him if he went
west, he was going to fall off the end of the earth! Why? Because they believed the world was flat!"
But Columbus believed with all of his heart that the world was round. He decided to take that leap
of faith. Do you know why? He believed in the Bible. Isaiah 40:22 says that God "sits above the
CIRCLE of the earth." The Hebrew word for circle refers to something shaped like a sphere. And
so Columbus figured, "If the world is shaped like a sphere, I should be alright no matter which way
I go. All I have to do is believe the written word of God."
As you and I know, Columbus didn’t fall off the edge of the earth. He trusted the word of God.
Psalm 55:22 says "Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the
righteous fall." Just as God made this promise come true for Columbus. He can do it for you and
me as well.
That is why we come to the table today. We come to see the promise of God and we take that
step of faith and look forward to the future God has promised us….
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 March 8, 2009
What is faith? In the book of Hebrews we read that faith is the assurance of things hope for, the
conviction of things not seen. In other words, faith is believing without seeing.
Now I know a lot of people outside the church think religion is nothing more than a feel good
philosophy. You make things up that help you focus on the positive. Norman Vincent Peale, Robert
Schuler and Joel Osteen have made a career out of positive thinking. But our faith is so much more
than that.
You see our faith is built upon our experience of a God who cares and acts on our behalf. We
have the testimony of scripture to back it up. What’s more, many of us can validate the reality of it
through our own personal experience. God has been there in the dark night of our lives.
The hymn we just sang, “Great is they faithfulness”, speaks to God’s presence in our lives.
Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath provided. Great is thy
faithfulness, Lord unto me.”
Faith is born out of the experience that God has been there for us in the past and he will be there
for us in the future. I like the story told about
One night a house caught fire. And a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood
on the ground below with outstretched arms. He called out to his son, "Jump! I’ll catch you." But
the boy hesitated. Because all he could see was flame, smoke, and blackness. So as you can
imagine, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Don’t worry! Jump! I’ll catch
you!" But the boy protested, "But Dad, I can’t see you!" The father replied, "But I can see you and
that’s all that matters."
The boy went ahead and jumped. Not because he could see where he was jumping. But because
he trusted his father to catch him.
That’s what faith in God is. It seems like it is taking a flying leap into nowhere. But it is really
trusting God to do what he does, even when we can’t see him.
That’s what Abraham did in our story today. God told him he was going to have a son and that he
would be the father of a great nation. At ninety nine years old, this was a stretch, but he had faith in
God. You would have to be kinda’ crazy to do what he did. He left family and friends in the land of
UR to go into the wilderness with God. They lived in tents and were totally dependent on God.
What happened? God took care of all their needs. Some called Abraham “the friend of God.” The
point is that Abraham’s faith was honored by God and now he is called the father of faith.
Now that doesn’t mean he was perfect or that he never had doubts. When God tells you that you
are going to have a son at 99 years old, when your one and only wife is ninety, you may be a bit
skeptical. Abraham was. That’s why he took things in his own hands and slept with his maid,
Hagar. She produced a son and Abraham thought this is what God meant.
The funny thing is that God doesn’t settle for things. He could have stopped there and let
Abraham go on believing that Ishmael was the son of promise. He could have punished Abraham
for his lack of faith and rescinded his promise. He could have made life more difficult for Abraham
and made him pay for his lack of faith. Instead God forgave Abraham and delivered on his promise.
Isaac was born and Abraham became the father of a great nation.
The good news is that God’s faithfulness doesn’t depend on us. God’s word is true no matter
what we do. He is dependable. He can be counted on. Like with the father in our illustration, we
can take a leap of faith and God will always be there to catch us.
So the first thing you need to know about faith is that it is not about you and me. Faith is about
God.
When God approaches Abraham he says, “I am the Lord God almighty.” In other words I am
who I am. I am powerful and able to do all things. God is reminding Abraham that he is the creator
of the universe. He’s the one who put the stars in the skies. He is the one who created every living
thing. So if he wants to impregnate Sarah… he can do it because he created her.
I think we need to remember that. J B Phillips wrote a little book entitled, “Your God is Too
Small.” In it he talks about the fact that most of us limit what God can do with our lack of faith.
We just don’t believe God can do very much so we never test him. The truth is that God wants to
do so much more for us, but we never ask him.
Have you ever read Rabbi Kushner’s book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People?" It was
really popular years back. I used to always recommend it to people when they were going through
a rough patch. But I have changed my mind recently. You see near the end of the book, he says "I
believe in God. But I don’t believe the same things about him that I used to. I don’t believe God is
all powerful. I don’t believe he gets involved in our personal lives. I think he leaves a lot of things
up to us."
I just don’t buy that. One of the things I love about God is that he has the ability to do whatever
he wants. His hands aren’t tied at all. Do you remember the story of the Ten Commandments in
Exodus chapter 20? Do you remember the very first thing God says in the Ten Commandments?
He said, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." In
other words, I am your all powerful, all loving, all caring creator. I was there for you in the past.
And I’m here for you now. You can trust me."
There is a new best seller out today called “The Shack.” It’s fiction but in it’s story, it does a
good job laying out the way God interacts with us. It makes sense out of the senseless.
Julie Wagner sent me an e-mail yesterday about that accident on 395 where a group of people
heading off on a mission trip was hit by a drunk driver. One young lady, Elizabeth Durante, was
killed. It doesn’t make sense to me, especially after just returning from a mission trip. Why would
God let that happen to people who were out doing his will? It’s enough to make you stop and ask if
serving him is really worth it.
Yet faith is the convictions of things not seen. That means that even if we don’t understand
something, it doesn’t mean God isn’t at work. Just because WE can’t see it, doesn’t mean
something good can't happen. God has this crazy ability to turn tragedy into triumph.
Jacob & Esau…
Joseph…
Moses…
Jesus…
Our faith tells us that there is more going on than we will ever know. One day last week June
Deptulski and I were walking through the neighborhood of the church we served last year.
Suddenly we hear someone calling out June’s name. It was absurd. No one knew us there. But then
this young lady comes up to us and begins talking as if we were old friends. It dawned on us
afterwards that June had made a quite an impression on this girl even though June didn’t remember
her.
Later that night a few of us heard another woman tell us how her life was changed forever when
a group of short term American missionaries came to a Vacation Bible School like the one we were
at that night. She was saved through that event. It made me stop and think about what we were
doing. It seemed so insignificant and yet God was using it to answer prayers.
I left feeling amazed at the way God works. He has a plan and a purpose and he will see it
through. He uses us and every circumstance to see that his goals are achieved.
Four times in our text God says "I will." "I will make you fruitful. I will make you into a great
nation. I will establish my covenant with you. I will give this land to your descendants." I will. I
will. I will. I will!" And if you read the rest of the Bible, you’ll find out that all of those I wills came
true just like God said they would.
That gives us a wonderful platform for our faith. It doesn’t matter who you are. Your faith will
help you accomplish great things. I was reading about Christopher Columbus. Back in 1492, he
wanted to sail west to get to India. And a lot of people said he was crazy. They told him if he went
west, he was going to fall off the end of the earth! Why? Because they believed the world was flat!"
But Columbus believed with all of his heart that the world was round. He decided to take that leap
of faith. Do you know why? He believed in the Bible. Isaiah 40:22 says that God "sits above the
CIRCLE of the earth." The Hebrew word for circle refers to something shaped like a sphere. And
so Columbus figured, "If the world is shaped like a sphere, I should be alright no matter which way
I go. All I have to do is believe the written word of God."
As you and I know, Columbus didn’t fall off the edge of the earth. He trusted the word of God.
Psalm 55:22 says "Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the
righteous fall." Just as God made this promise come true for Columbus. He can do it for you and
me as well.
That is why we come to the table today. We come to see the promise of God and we take that
step of faith and look forward to the future God has promised us….
| Welcome to the First Baptist Church of Norwich 239 West Main Street Norwich, Connecticut Phone: 860-889-0369 |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |