The Renewal of All Thingsmercyhillbcs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Gods-Commitment-to... ·...
Transcript of The Renewal of All Thingsmercyhillbcs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Gods-Commitment-to... ·...
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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http://populous.com/project/texas-am-kyle-field-redevelopment/
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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/
Image Credit: Christopher Brownhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/