Sermon Title: The First Step To Faith – Agree with God.
“Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”
And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my Covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
But My Covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you
by this time next year.”
When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. (Genesis 17:17-22)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
The first step to an authentic faith relationship with God is the foremost step of agreeing wholeheartedly with Him.
After being told that Sarah will bear him a son, Abraham laughed in a disbelief that was premised on his disagreement with the Will and Power of the Almighty God. (Ref: Genesis 17:15-19)
How many times have you blamed your lack of faith in the Lord when actually you had disagreed with His Will and Work in your life because you thought that your way was better?
In the sheer impossibility of bearing children at their advanced ages, and with Ishmael already in place, Abraham felt that God should use what was already available; and disagreed with God’s plan of blessing him with yet another child to fulfill His Promise to him. (Ref: Genesis 17:15-19)
Ishmael would be blessed nonetheless, but God’s Promise to Abraham would be fulfilled through Isaac, a child who would be birthed under impossible circumstances - in accordance to His Way and Sovereign Will.
Essentially, God said to Abraham, “In spite of your wickedness in taking my Promises into your hands, My original plan to embrace you and your family as my children, will be still be fulfilled, but in Isaac - precisely through your barren bodies and doubtful hearts.”
Never ever attempt to help God fulfill His Kingdom Work.
Such impulses are wicked in nature and reveals an insidious darkness in the human heart.
James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) sums up how we must understand God’s heart as we participate in His Kingdom work:
“Depend on it. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.”
God’s Work must always, and only, be done in God’s Way.
The first step to a life of faith is to agree with God that His Work can only be done in His Way.
Before we can believe in God, we must agree with God.
Before we can enter into Covenantal Relationship with God, we must agree to be part of His Divine Agreement to Save and Restore us to become His Children.
Before we can be saved, we must agree that we are sinners in need of Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
Let’s be very clear.
Our agreement with God has a profound and powerful impact on our lives in Christ.
If you agree wholeheartedly to God’s Will, Word, Work and Worth in your life, I can guarantee that you will be completely assured of His Win in your life.
If you agree with the Lord that addictions, proclivities and sin must have no place, nor hold, in your life; and thus, allow His Holy Spirit to lead and guide you in the pathway to holiness, you would find that He has already begun His Work of Consecration and Sanctification.
To agree with the Lord activates both our consciousness and conscientiousness to fulfill His Will in our lives.
On the other hand, the failure to disagree with wickedness in your life is to approve, albeit implicitly, a life of unrepentance and sin against God.
The world - inundated with a toxic cacophony of massive information overload, ethical and moral fluidity, abused freedom of speech, self-entitlements and a prevalent, false sense of authority – has become spawning grounds for a widespread, nefarious atmosphere of doubts, perversions and uncertainty.
Understandably so.
However, this toxic atmosphere serves only to embellish the wicked human nature that has always been inclined to a perverted pride that underscores the evil perspective that mere human beings have the authority, or even ability, to disagree with God.
Increasingly so, the world makes its opposition, and disagreement, with God clearer with every passing moment.
The evil intent of the human heart is amplified in the re-establishment of society through the disagreement with God’s design of gender, marriage, family and community; along with God’s historical Work of love and salvation through Christ.
Do you agree with God?
The true Christian’s faith can only be established upon a conscious and conscientious agreement of our sinful condition which requires an utter repentance from our sins and sinful ways before Him; and an utter embrace of the Salvific Work of our Lord Jesus Christ - who died on the Cross in substitutionary atonement of our transgressions, and who rose from the grave in fulfillment of His Promised Gift to us of the Holy Spirit and of eternal life.
The Apostle Paul warns us emphatically in Colossians 2:8-10:
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.”
Do you agree that our lives must be captivated only by Christ?
Do you agree that Christ is God?
And that, through Christ, we have overcome every evil power and authority, and have been brought fully into our eternal identity as children of God?
Again, in 2 Corinthians 6:16-17, the Apostle Paul elucidates:
“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
For we are the temple of the living God.
As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
As children of God, there must be unconditionally and unreservedly no agreement between “the temple of God and idols”; “for we are the temple of the living God.”
To be God’s Temple, we must be in full agreement that He dwells within us, and amongst us.
To be God’s Children, we must in full agreement with Him that we “come out” of this wicked world – having absolutely nothing to do with this world; “be separate”.
To be God’s Holy People, we must be in full agreement that we must be received, and accepted by Him – “made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10)
Today, take the first real step in your faith relationship with God – consciously and conscientiously agree with Him, wholeheartedly - that His Sovereign Will and Holy Work be fulfilled in and through your life.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)
Holy Spirit, grant that my heart be completely aligned with Your Will; that I may agree wholeheartedly with Your Work in and through my life.
Lord, forgive my doubts, and wicked presumptuousness, that I know better.
I agree that my human ways, energized by my sinful nature, are offensive to You.
May my spirit be wholly aligned to Your Will; that my heart and mind transcend even obedience, and be fully in agreement to Your Work in my life.
Lord, teach me to recognise and even, embrace, my barrenness; and grant that I may find fulfillment solely in Your Work in this present world, and promise of Eternal Life in Your Coming Kingdom.
For indeed, Your Work done Your Way will never lack Your Supply.
Your Work can truly only be done Your Way!
Lord, may I daily agree to Your Spirit’s Work of consecration, sanctification and empowerment.
Captivate my life, Lord – for I belong wholly to You!
Thank You for granting me victory over the schemes of the evil one; that I would be found in utter disagreement with every form and shape of worldliness and wickedness.
I declare that I am in full agreement that Your Spirit dwells in, and amongst us; that we have no part of this world, in order to fully inherit Your Kingdom; and that we have been accepted and received by You, O Lord - “made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10)
Yes, Lord – this is my desire; to consciously and conscientiously agree with You, wholeheartedly – that Your Sovereign Will and Holy Work be established in and through my life.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”
And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my Covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
But My Covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you
by this time next year.”
When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. (Genesis 17:17-22)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
The first step to an authentic faith relationship with God is the foremost step of agreeing wholeheartedly with Him.
After being told that Sarah will bear him a son, Abraham laughed in a disbelief that was premised on his disagreement with the Will and Power of the Almighty God. (Ref: Genesis 17:15-19)
How many times have you blamed your lack of faith in the Lord when actually you had disagreed with His Will and Work in your life because you thought that your way was better?
In the sheer impossibility of bearing children at their advanced ages, and with Ishmael already in place, Abraham felt that God should use what was already available; and disagreed with God’s plan of blessing him with yet another child to fulfill His Promise to him. (Ref: Genesis 17:15-19)
Ishmael would be blessed nonetheless, but God’s Promise to Abraham would be fulfilled through Isaac, a child who would be birthed under impossible circumstances - in accordance to His Way and Sovereign Will.
Essentially, God said to Abraham, “In spite of your wickedness in taking my Promises into your hands, My original plan to embrace you and your family as my children, will be still be fulfilled, but in Isaac - precisely through your barren bodies and doubtful hearts.”
Never ever attempt to help God fulfill His Kingdom Work.
Such impulses are wicked in nature and reveals an insidious darkness in the human heart.
James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) sums up how we must understand God’s heart as we participate in His Kingdom work:
“Depend on it. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.”
God’s Work must always, and only, be done in God’s Way.
The first step to a life of faith is to agree with God that His Work can only be done in His Way.
Before we can believe in God, we must agree with God.
Before we can enter into Covenantal Relationship with God, we must agree to be part of His Divine Agreement to Save and Restore us to become His Children.
Before we can be saved, we must agree that we are sinners in need of Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
Let’s be very clear.
Our agreement with God has a profound and powerful impact on our lives in Christ.
If you agree wholeheartedly to God’s Will, Word, Work and Worth in your life, I can guarantee that you will be completely assured of His Win in your life.
If you agree with the Lord that addictions, proclivities and sin must have no place, nor hold, in your life; and thus, allow His Holy Spirit to lead and guide you in the pathway to holiness, you would find that He has already begun His Work of Consecration and Sanctification.
To agree with the Lord activates both our consciousness and conscientiousness to fulfill His Will in our lives.
On the other hand, the failure to disagree with wickedness in your life is to approve, albeit implicitly, a life of unrepentance and sin against God.
The world - inundated with a toxic cacophony of massive information overload, ethical and moral fluidity, abused freedom of speech, self-entitlements and a prevalent, false sense of authority – has become spawning grounds for a widespread, nefarious atmosphere of doubts, perversions and uncertainty.
Understandably so.
However, this toxic atmosphere serves only to embellish the wicked human nature that has always been inclined to a perverted pride that underscores the evil perspective that mere human beings have the authority, or even ability, to disagree with God.
Increasingly so, the world makes its opposition, and disagreement, with God clearer with every passing moment.
The evil intent of the human heart is amplified in the re-establishment of society through the disagreement with God’s design of gender, marriage, family and community; along with God’s historical Work of love and salvation through Christ.
Do you agree with God?
The true Christian’s faith can only be established upon a conscious and conscientious agreement of our sinful condition which requires an utter repentance from our sins and sinful ways before Him; and an utter embrace of the Salvific Work of our Lord Jesus Christ - who died on the Cross in substitutionary atonement of our transgressions, and who rose from the grave in fulfillment of His Promised Gift to us of the Holy Spirit and of eternal life.
The Apostle Paul warns us emphatically in Colossians 2:8-10:
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.”
Do you agree that our lives must be captivated only by Christ?
Do you agree that Christ is God?
And that, through Christ, we have overcome every evil power and authority, and have been brought fully into our eternal identity as children of God?
Again, in 2 Corinthians 6:16-17, the Apostle Paul elucidates:
“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
For we are the temple of the living God.
As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
As children of God, there must be unconditionally and unreservedly no agreement between “the temple of God and idols”; “for we are the temple of the living God.”
To be God’s Temple, we must be in full agreement that He dwells within us, and amongst us.
To be God’s Children, we must in full agreement with Him that we “come out” of this wicked world – having absolutely nothing to do with this world; “be separate”.
To be God’s Holy People, we must be in full agreement that we must be received, and accepted by Him – “made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10)
Today, take the first real step in your faith relationship with God – consciously and conscientiously agree with Him, wholeheartedly - that His Sovereign Will and Holy Work be fulfilled in and through your life.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)
Holy Spirit, grant that my heart be completely aligned with Your Will; that I may agree wholeheartedly with Your Work in and through my life.
Lord, forgive my doubts, and wicked presumptuousness, that I know better.
I agree that my human ways, energized by my sinful nature, are offensive to You.
May my spirit be wholly aligned to Your Will; that my heart and mind transcend even obedience, and be fully in agreement to Your Work in my life.
Lord, teach me to recognise and even, embrace, my barrenness; and grant that I may find fulfillment solely in Your Work in this present world, and promise of Eternal Life in Your Coming Kingdom.
For indeed, Your Work done Your Way will never lack Your Supply.
Your Work can truly only be done Your Way!
Lord, may I daily agree to Your Spirit’s Work of consecration, sanctification and empowerment.
Captivate my life, Lord – for I belong wholly to You!
Thank You for granting me victory over the schemes of the evil one; that I would be found in utter disagreement with every form and shape of worldliness and wickedness.
I declare that I am in full agreement that Your Spirit dwells in, and amongst us; that we have no part of this world, in order to fully inherit Your Kingdom; and that we have been accepted and received by You, O Lord - “made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10)
Yes, Lord – this is my desire; to consciously and conscientiously agree with You, wholeheartedly – that Your Sovereign Will and Holy Work be established in and through my life.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.