The Renewal of All Things

Fall 2018 Series Mercy Hill Church

If God had a mission statement, what would

it be?

God’s Commitment to Blessing all Nations

Genesis 12:1-4

Genesis chapters 3-11“curse” is mentioned 5x

“Genesis 1-11 poses a cosmic question

to which God must provide a cosmic answer…

What can God do next?”

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go

Genesis 12:1-4 (ESV)

from your country and your kindredand your father’s house to the landI will show you.

2 And I will make of you a great

Genesis 12:1-4 (ESV)

nation, and I will bless you andmake your name great, so thatyou will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

Genesis 12:1-4 (ESV)

and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Envision the new reality embedded in God’s promise

1

Abraham = 75 years oldSarah = 65 years old

What can God do next? Something that only God could have thought of. He sees an elderly, childless

couple in the land of Babel and decides to make them

the fountainhead, the launch pad of his whole

mission of cosmic redemption…

The call of Abraham is the beginning of God’s answer to the evil of human hearts,

the strife of the nations and the groaning

brokenness of his whole creation. A new world,

ultimately a new creation, begins in this text.

“Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them…. So shall your offspring be.”

~ Genesis 15

“…through your offspring all the nationsof the earth will be blessed.”

~ Genesis 22:18 ~

Good News!

“And the Scripture…preached the gospel

beforehand to Abraham saying, ‘In you shall all

the nations be blessed.” ~ The Apostle Paul in

Galatians 3:8

God’s Mission Statement

I will bless you and you will be a blessing and all nations of the earth

shall be blessed.

Genesis chapters 3-11“curse” is mentioned 5x

Genesis 12:1-3 “bless / blessing” is promised 5x

Genesis chapters 3-11“curse” is mentioned 5x

Genesis 12:1-3 “bless / blessing” is promised 5x

God’s intends to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found!

Genesis 1-11 describes the problem

that Genesis 12 through Revelation 22

address, namely, the mission of God

in the renewal of all things.

Trace the surprising trajectory of God’s promise

2

“When the fulness of time had come, God

sent forth his Son….”~ The Apostle Paul

in Galatians 4:4

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,”

referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is

Christ. ~ The Apostle Paul in

Galatians 3:16

“”

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is

written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—so that in Christ

Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations….

~ The Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:13-14

You are the sons…of the covenant that

God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, “And in you shall all the

families of the earth be blessed.” ~ The Apostle Peter

in Acts 3:25-26

God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to

bless you by turning every one of you

from your wickedness.

~ The Apostle Peter in Acts 3:25-26

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and

to open its seal, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed

people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

~ Revelation 5:9

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…crying out in a loud voice,

“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

~ Revelation 7:9-10

Embrace your place in God’s Promise

3

Christ came, in order that we might be justified

through faith…. In Christ Jesus you are all sons of

God through faith…. And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring,

heirs according to the promise. ~ The Apostle Paul in

Galatians 3:24, 26, 29

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go

Genesis 12:1-4 (ESV)

from your country and your kindredand your father’s house to the landI will show you.

2 And I will make of you a great

Genesis 12:1-4 (ESV)

nation, and I will bless you andmake your name great, so thatyou will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

Genesis 12:1-4 (ESV)

and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told

Genesis 12:1-4 (ESV)

him…. Abram was seventy-five years oldwhen he departed from Haran.

Christians who commit themselves to the

mission of God in the world have to start with

a certain going out from the world….

There is a form of leaving and going that is spiritual, mental, and attitudinal—even when

it is not physical….

For it involves the abandonment of the

worldview through which the world tells its own

usurped story, adopting, in faith and hope, the worldview of the story we are in—the biblical

story of God’s mission.

Through Jesus, we have been blessed

to be a blessing.

Karen WatsonMissionary to Iraq

Died in 2004 at age 38

“I wasn’t called to a place. I was called to Him.”

Karen WatsonMissionary to Iraq

Died in 2004 at age 38

“His glory is my

reward.”

Karen WatsonMissionary to Iraq

Died in 2004 at age 38

Care more than some think is wise.Risk more than some think is safe.

Dream more than some think is practical.Expect more than some think is possible.

Karen WatsonMissionary to Iraq

Died in 2004 at age 38

“I was not called to comfort or success but to obedience.

There is no joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving

Him.”

God doesn’t ask about our abilities or inabilities,

but only our availability.

”~ Anonymous

“

The Gospel is about God’s commitment to blessing every

nation on the planet in Jesus Christ.

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Image Credit: Christopher Brownhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Image Credit: Christopher Brownhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Image Credit: Christopher Brownhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/