That's risky business and we don't want to risk those things but it's time in small ways to begin to step out and if you'll do it you'll begin to see God is trustworthy. So in whom are you going to trust Abram? Are you ready to leave it all behind and go to the land that I will show you? Great. But then God speaks to Abram a second way to tell him the kind of person he needs to be if he's not going to freeze up and become useless. Listen to what he says in verse 2. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you and I will make your name great. Wow that sounds like a good deal to me. I mean if Abram just takes this little trip God says then what am I going to do? Yeah I'm taking you from a great city but don't worry I'm going to make you into this huge empire. Great and I'm going to bless you which basically meant in Abram's day I'm going to make you rich and more than that I'm going to make you famous. Well who wouldn't have jumped on that track? Who wouldn't have followed God when he says those kinds of things to you but you know if Abram was anything like you and me anything at all like you and me when he heard these words his expectations were not straight and it was only as he experienced life with God that he actually got his expectations straightened out because if he was anything like you and me this is what he thought. God said that if I take this trip with him then I'm going to start getting all these things and it's just going to be great. Everything's coming up roses for you and me. It's going to be a magnificent life but the reality is Abram's life was not magnificent. He's told you're going to be a great empire. Well how many legitimate errors did he ever have? He had one and God said not him. They didn't have another God said that's the one then the few years later God says given back
that's what Abram's experience was like. He's told he's going to be wealthy. He's going to be a great kingdom. He's going to be famous. Well how much real estate did Abram ever own his entire life? One burial plied for himself and his wife and a few children grandchildren. If you in a house today you own more real estate than Abram ever owned. That's why the New Testament tells us that all through his life. This is what Abram did rather than looking at his life here and now with expectations that were wrong. He set his eyes on the city of heaven, the celestial city. That's the great city that will one day come down to the new heavens and new earth and the writer of Hebrew says he had his eyes set on that the entire time. He knew he was moving there and it's so different from you and me.
You know one of the plights that is on the church of Jesus Christ today that in fact American missionaries have transferred to other countries around the world is what we often call prosperity theology. You've heard of that before, haven't you? Prosperity gospel is the belief if you haven't heard it just watch some Christian TV you'll take about five minutes because this is the basic belief if you'll just have faith in God he'll make you rich. If you just have faith in God give my ministry some money he'll make you healthy. If you just speak a word of faith and believe it it'll come true. Now we all around the table here we all know that's not true no no way no way in fact we mock it we turn off the Christian TV because we think well that's just crazy and it is crazy good people get sick and good people die good people are poor in fact sometimes the most righteous of us all are the poorest of us all but you know we have our own form of prosperity gospel ourselves. Now don't misunderstand me it has nothing to do with faith because we're not going to do that that's for sure but this is the way ours goes if I obey God and work very hard God will bless me if I just obey the word of God and work very hard things will be good and if things aren't good for me then that must mean I'm not working hard enough or obeying the bible is that simple for us we just replace faith with hard work in other words and you've got us when you do that but you see here's the problem if you really do believe that hard work and obeying God's word is going to unfold for you success in life good things in life you know a happy marriage a good family children that obey you and turn out to be turn out to be better than you were if you think that you're going to have a good church because you're working hard in obeying the bible if you think that life is going to be good you're going to get that promotion because you obey the bible and you work very hard when those things don't happen you feel cheated by God you freeze up in the mission in fact the more they happen the easier it is for you to take your eyes off of what's really important in life and that is the city that's coming and the realization that what we get now is ever so tiny and ever so small compared to what we're going to get one day
you know last year it snowed in Orlando did you know that I know it did because at 3 a.m. I am my neighbors went outside and turned on their headlights so we could see the snow and it was these tiny little flakes coming down and so I was kind of excited about it and I stuck my hand out I was going to try to catch some you know make just a teeny tiny little snowball throw it at somebody so I was going to flick it at them well I stuck my hand out to catch the snowflakes but they were so fragile that the warmth of my hand melted them before they touched my hand I couldn't get one that's how fragile they were now if you're as old as me or older you know what I'm about to say is true if you're younger than me then you may have a hard time believing this but trust an old guy the things that you have in this world I mean even the things that you have for all of your life they are as fragile as those snowflakes that melted before they touched my hand they are here and they and they are I don't know what happened I got married when I was 19 I blinked two times only two times and I became a grandfather how did that happen it makes you afraid to blink again doesn't it all the things that we work on all the things we work for all the things to which we devote ourselves you know your job your house fine trinkets toys upon trinkets and toys upon trinkets and toys even the ones that last your whole life are gone in a flash so why would you ever want to devote yourself to those kinds of expectations when you know how they're going to end you know if ever there was a person in this world who had a right to grab onto things and hold onto them it would have to have been Jesus but even more than Abram Jesus had less than any of us in this room he owned nothing and Jesus never grabbed for a single thing in this world and how did he do it well the book of Hebrew says he set his eyes on the glory one of the biggest problems you and I have when it comes to the mission of the church is that we are so preoccupied with our lives and with those trinkets and toys that we accumulate in this life that we lose sight of the mission that God has sent us on we devote our lives we devote our energy we devote our money we even devote our prayers to the snowflakes that melt before they touch your hand you want to be a person that's sent on a mission you want to be a person like Abram you have to get your expectations straight and one of the biggest problems that we have we're getting those expectations straight as this a lot of us have a very vague and thin idea of what that city is like you know as I go around and I talk to real Christian people who love Jesus very much and who love the Bible I ask them often what do you think the afterlife is like and they say well I don't know it'll be fine it'll be good but I really don't know you know I think I'm going to be in a choir I've heard that we're going to be worshiping all the time that's what we're going to be doing that's what I'm supposed to say that's right I'm going to get a heart maybe you know I've heard that too you ever been in a choir choir forever I mean it sounds like the other side not heaven now 10,000 years I could be in a choir for 10,000 years you know like amazing grace says by shining us the sun but forever is a lot longer than 10,000 years now when if that's what you think you're headed toward if that's what you think your future is if that's what you think this great celestial city that Abram looks for and that Jesus looks for if you think that's what it's like no wonder you're holding on to every single thing you can possibly hold on to in this life no wonder you are I would too there's an old beer commercial some of you are old enough to remember it not only remember what beer it was but this is what they said you only go around once in life so grab all the gusto you can what a lie two lies in that commercial one that beer can give you gusto doesn't it just makes you fat okay the second lie is you only go around once you see Jesus didn't come to this planet to take you off to a choir loft up there in the sky somewhere Jesus came here and he died and he resurrected and he ascended into heaven and he rains over everything until all of his enemies are put under his feet and he's coming back he's coming back to make all things new what the Bible calls the new heavens and the new can you tell me earth that's why we recite in the Apostles Creed the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting because your everlasting life is going to be physical it's going to be on this planet made new so wondrous so magnificent so beautiful that it will be appropriate for God himself to come here and light the world up with his glory can you imagine such a thing so this is what I can tell you if for the sake of a mission you never see Paris just wait do you see Paris in the new world if for the sake of the kingdom of God you give up certain things in life you curtail your expenditures you break with this consumerist culture that we're in where we buy as much as we possibly can so we can entertain ourselves as much as possible if you'll break with that don't worry everything you give up you'll receive a hundred fold in this world and in the world of God Jesus if you lose friends because of Jesus and you're on the mission don't worry just wait till the friendships you see there if you lose family because of that don't worry wait till you see the family you'll have there you see it's when you begin to believe that Jesus is really going to do that and that there is a celestial city coming down to this planet and you and I are going to live there forever then you can begin to give up the snowflakes
because you know they're going to go away anyway and you don't have to be panic that you're going to miss something if you're afraid of missing something then you're yet to understand why Jesus can and if you know what's ahead of us letting go of things for the sake of the kingdom of God really isn't hard to do at all can you believe that if you can you'll fall out and then God says this paper at the end of verse two and you will be a blessing I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you yes God says Abraham you've got to figure out in whom you're going to trust you're going to go with me or not yes Abram you've got to get your expectations straight and get your eyes set on the right goal then you can be my man then you can be my servant then you can be on this mission but now God says Abraham you've got to remember and you've got to put it right in front of you why I chose you I've got to deal with Jesus and the deal is this I'm on planes a lot this is the deal if the guy next to me doesn't speak to me I don't have to speak to him but if he speaks to me then I've got to try to share my faith with him there it is ready for that well the other day someone spoke to me I was really tired I really wanted just to be left alone go home okay but he started speaking to me so we started talking about it he was actually from Germany it was it was interesting to do and at one point in the conversation he said this to me what's in it for me what's in it for me this religion that you're talking about and I began to think about that for a minute and ask myself you know I wonder how many times not with those words but how many times I asked that question how many times we asked that question may after all why did you become a follower of Jesus was it not to avoid hellfire and get heaven what's in it for me why is it that you do so many things in your Christian life the undercurrent is the theme that walks underneath the mollus what's in it for me how's it going to help me out how's it going to improve my life am I going to get rewards in heaven for this but did you notice what God says the Abram here Abram I've called you to trust me I've given you great promises but I didn't you need to understand something they're not for you I made you my man so that you would be a blessing to other people playing and simple I have a friend that called me out this is about six months ago he called me up on the phone he said Rich I've got to tell you something that I really can't tell anybody else and that you need to keep a secret so I said okay go ahead because normally what that means is the person is going to tell me some deep dark sin that I've got a bear now okay oh my I thought I said okay okay go ahead people tend to do that to me that's it yeah okay go ahead oh no no no it's not bad this is a good thing but other people will think I'm proud if I tell him about this but I don't think you will but I tell you I said yeah it's good news tell me because I need some so he told me about what had happened about six weeks earlier with his daughter now you need to understand this man is in a socioeconomic bracket where every the expectation of all his peers and perfiers his daughter's peers is that on the 16th birthday you get a new car in fact you get a European sports car okay and that's just the expectations kind of like you and I expect to have a snack before we go to bed tonight okay all right so it was for 16th birthday she woke up she knew exactly what was going to be in the garage she went out there it was big yellow bow on it she ripped the bow off gave him big hug and kiss drove off in the car and he said for the next six weeks she was not home on time for supper one time he was so mad he said he said I was about to explode because she could not get home on time for dinner she'd come in so late sometimes she wouldn't even see us and he said finally I just couldn't take it anymore and I sat her down I said where have you been and she said daddy I can't tell you oh that's the wrong thing to say so he started be raiding her for it you mean I give you this car and I pay for the gas and I do all these things for you and you're not going to tell me where you're going in that car you're going to tell me where you're going so finally she got the message it was that I lose the car so she started telling and what she did and here's what she had been doing every day after school she'd been taking her car and she was driving to four different nursing homes that were within about three miles of her high school and she'd go in and she would take orders from the people in the nursing home of what kind of cookies and this bet and the other they wanted from Walmart or wherever it might be and she would get in her car and she would drive to the Walmart or to the store she would spend her money and she'd buy those things then she'd bring them back and of course when she brought them back the people wanted to talk so she would sit there and talk with them and on and on and on it went for six weeks he said I was so proud of her I could not stand I had to tell somebody you see that 16 year old understood something that you and I by and large are yet to get because we live in a culture that tells us that God has given us a right to life liberty and the pursuit of my happiness so if I've gone out there and I've gotten something out of life I know to whom it belongs it belongs to me now yes it's a blessing from God but God blessing me with this and what God is saying to Abram is this Abram I'm going to give you a lot of things in life but it's not for you it's for the sake of somebody else and who is it the whole human race now we know that Jesus the great son of Abram is the one who actually made this happen I mean he's the one to sort of open the floodgates and made those blessings pour out to people like you and me and he asked yourself this question Abram is hearing these things around 2000 BC what were your ancestors doing in 2000 BC I mean this man is following the God of heaven and earth what were your ancestors doing I know what mine were doing they were raking and pillaging and butchering and cannibalizing I know that's what mine were doing what were yours doing but now look what's happened because father Abraham got the message because father Abraham got the word and he became a blessing to others in his life sharing what God had given him to others look where you are you're now worshiping the true God of heaven and earth because Jesus came to this earth and lived the perfect and godly life and received the blessings of all things belonging to him and didn't hold them for himself but rather shared them with others look where you are and it's not just Abram and Jesus but it's generation after generation after generation of followers of Jesus who have done the same they have lived their lives for someone else and it's because they lived their lives for someone else that you and I are here today in this safe and comfortable place hearing the Bible you and me Gentile dogs so how can we not do the same how can we possibly think to ourselves what I have been given is for me to enjoy for me to hold on to and not for others it's because we've become like the world around us that thinks exactly the same way I hope that you have the biggest house in peace tree city I'm back I hope you have two or three houses hopefully everyone at the beach I'll be able one in the mountains maybe one in Florida that'd be nice I could go visit it I would like for you to have a shallay in Switzerland as well how about that I don't care how many houses you have how big they are how expensive they are that's your relevant my only question to you tonight is this how are you using them as a blessing for I hope that through all this economic crisis you've actually benefited financially they're probably our few of you that have a smart enough to figure out what to do so you've actually gotten rich off of this great way to go I hope you have so much money you don't know what to do with it but now the question is not how much money you have the question is how are you using your money as a blessing to others the blessings of Jesus to others I hope you and your spouse love each other so much you're just love sick after 50 years of marriage I hope that's what's true I hope you love each other so much that you make other people in this I hope that's true for you it's rare but I hope it's true for you
but the question is still how are you using that gift as a blessing for others you see even this church that you have this wonderful congregation you have this wonderful building you have all these things that you have it's not your church it's not your congregation you've been given these gifts not for you but for the world and if we don't stop thinking like the world around us thinks holding on to these things because their mind their mind their mind then we're going to freeze up and be pushed to the side I think my mother was right that if one person calls you something you know forget it a couple people think about it for a minute if everybody calls you to that bad name it's probably true so that means that most of us in here in one way or another have frozen up
we've lost sight of the mission how do you get back on track it's really not that hard God said to Abram trust me with everything get your expectations straight setting your eyes on the world to come and realize that the reason I have blessed you so much is so that you can be a blessing to others if we will do that we will be people who are sent by God let's pray together
our Lord Jesus we thank you that you trusted the Father and that you lived with your eyes on the next world and that you are the great blessing to the world but we are here now and we would like for these things to be true of us too so we're asking you to send Holy Spirit to us because we simply don't have the power to do it so we cry out Holy Spirit come change us make us people who are thought out who are sent into the mission it's really simple Holy Spirit we're asking you to make us like Jesus oh man