This was a sermon I gave in a small village in India on one of our last nights there. The Lord laid this sermon on my heart a couple hours before I was planning to preach, I was going to do one I had already written a few days ago. But I wrote it down and wasn’t even truly sure if it made any sense, but I trusted God put it on my heart for a reason and gave it that night. Then all the pieces came together and it flowed perfectly. The whole time I was preaching I was drawn to a woman in the crowd. After it was over that same woman came up to me with hope filled eyes and said that she trusts in God’s promises with all of her heart and she has been praying for a child. She is 40 years old and she was encouraged that Abraham and Sarah were of old age when they had their first child. And she also pointed out to me that Abraham had to wait 25 years to see his promise fulfilled and she and her husband have been married for 25 years! She was so excited and had a light in her eyes when she was speaking that shined her faith so beautifully. I was so encouraged by her and I knew God gave me this sermon to speak to her and remind her of the impossible perfect promises of God, so I hope it does the same for you too!
Roman 4 sermon (7.31.18)
Abrahams faith.
Abraham was just a typical man living his life with his wife Sarah. And Sarah was barren so she couldn’t have kids. And God came to Abraham and gave him a promise, that he would be the father of many nations with more descendants than the stars in the sky.
He was 75 years old when God told him this.
That’s crazy!
How can that be possible?
It makes no sense at all to human logic and understanding?
He couldn’t see how this promise could possibly come true.
How could he be the father of many nations if he doesn’t even have a child.
He was probably thinking this is a good joke God but there’s no way!
But luckily we serve a God who is far greater and wiser than we are.
He can do the impossible, He just calls us to have faith through it.
And that’s just what Abraham did.
He had faith in this promise before he could SEE the fulfillment of it.
What amazing faith that must have been!
And how crazy he must have looked to others when he told them the promise of the Lord.
But Abraham chose to believe anyways, because he knew how powerful his God was!
God wouldn’t promise something we can do on our own.
He makes big promises because HE CAN fulfill them.
To show that it was through His strength and power and His alone.
Not ours.
Our only job is to trust Him through it.
To trust the supernatural, the impossible, and the crazy promises of God.
They don’t make sense.
They aren’t logical.
Our minds can’t comprehend it.
And that’s where faith comes in.
We wouldn’t need faith if His promises made perfect sense to us.
We need faith because it’s impossible for us to ever do it on our own.
In Romans 4:20-21 it states:
“He (Abraham) did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully convinced what He had promised He was also able to perform.”
Abraham did not waiver at the promises of God, but was rather strengthened in faith at the end of it.
How hard that must have been.
Giving glory to God till the end because he knew it was not done on his own strength at all.
He knew and believed in the strength and power of God, that He would come through in the end. Even if he couldn’t see the how or logic behind it.
When we are faced with the promises of God.
Our logic screams no, as our faith whispers yes
& we get to choose which one we want to believe.
Abraham had to choose whether to believe God when He said he would be the father of many nations or shrug it off and say that’s impossible and continue on with his life.
But if he had done that he would have missed out on all that God had promised him and planned for his life.
He would have fell short of the glory God wanted to reveal to him.
How many times do we fall short?
How many times do we choose to say that’s impossible and shrug off the dreams and promises that the Lord has told us because we only see it through our eyes?
And we end up missing what God’s trying to reveal to us.
He just asks us to believe Him when He does speak and to believe the impossible.
Believe the crazy promises and dreams the Lord gives you.
Abraham had to wait 25 years till his promise was fulfilled and had his first son Isaac at the age of 100 years old.
The Israelites waited 440 years to be brought out of slavery and brought to the promise land which God had promised them.
So there is sometimes a waiting period.
Where faith is needed in the middle.
But I want you to believe what the rest of the world is telling you is crazy.
Believe and hope for the big dreams in your life.
Because God placed those passions in your heart for a reason.
So stop listening to the rest of the world and listen to the One who created the world.
Quiet yourself and listen for that small still voice.
Stop doubting the power of the Lord and what He can do in your life!
& start doubting your doubts and believing your beliefs.
Be crazy for the Lord and watch the impossible begin to happen!
“If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God.
And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.”
2 corinthians 5:13
