Summary

Here's a summary of the sermon, including details about Abraham's journey and the challenges he faced:

The Call and the Leap of Faith:

• The talk focuses on Abraham, a pivotal figure in many religions, and his unwavering faith in God.
• God instructs Abraham to leave his comfortable life in Ur, a prosperous city in Mesopotamia, and embark on a journey to an unknown land.
• This is a significant demand, requiring Abraham to abandon his familiar surroundings, family, and established way of life.
• The destination remains a mystery, highlighting the immense trust Abraham places in God's guidance.

Challenges Along the Way:

• The transcript acknowledges the inherent difficulty in following a path dictated by faith.
• Abraham's journey is not without hardships. The text mentions a famine that forces him to seek refuge in Egypt.
• This unexpected obstacle demonstrates that even those who devote themselves to God's will can face trials.

Faith Tested, But Not Broken:

• Despite the challenges, the message emphasizes that God remains present during these difficulties.
• Abraham's unwavering faith allows him to persevere through the famine, demonstrating the power of trusting in a higher purpose.
• The story serves as a reminder that God's promises hold true, even when the path seems unclear.

Key Takeaways and Applying the Message:

• The core message revolves around cultivating a strong foundation of faith in God.
• The transcript emphasizes three key points:
  • Absolute trust in God's plans, even when faced with uncertainties.
  • Obedience to God's instructions, regardless of their perceived logic.
  • The importance of applying common sense alongside faith for wise decision-making.

Open-Ended Questions for Reflection:

• The sermon concludes by prompting listeners to reflect on their own faith journeys:
  • How can individuals strengthen their trust in God?
  • What are practical ways to incorporate faith into daily life?

By posing these questions, the message encourages deeper personal reflection and a commitment to growing one's faith.

Transcript

So I've known Jensen and his family for a good few years now and Jensen
actually faithfully serves some weeks at the back doing the role that Graham's
doing at the moment which is brilliant and we were chatting a few weeks ago and
I was just asking him do you have a fancy having a go at doing the talk on a
Sunday morning and he said yes so the way we're going to do it this morning
we're doing chapter 12 as you heard and Jensen's going to start do the first
part and I'm going to do the second part of what we've agreed but I have said you
know it can be quite daunting standing here looking at a sea of faces but I
have told them that you're all very nice and that you're all and that you're all
rooting for him all right so let's go
Good morning.
Especially I appreciate that reception you have to give the same for Andy when he
comes up all I do is not fair all right that's the deal that's the deal with me
I'll just give a quick quick sort of introduction to myself to people who
don't know me so as I said I'm Jensen I've been coming here for some years nine
years I think it is so since I was nine I hope that doesn't make any of you feel
too old and yeah I'll put the help with the the projector at the back and yeah so
I think we had this chat a couple of weeks ago like you were saying we won't talk
about that specifically just sort of co-oping conversation and sort of let on
from there and but yeah this morning I'll be doing the first nine verses of
Genesis chapter 12 and then Andy's gonna hopefully pick up if everyone's still
awake and carry on and just all this but I was poorly introduced this is about
Abram and Darren did brilliantly last week and just and it was mentioned but
it wasn't really gone into that much so if it's all right and grim can we get
the perfect clockwork isn't it so I'll read you'd have to stand up or read it out
you can just sort of follow along and we're just trusting my reading ability so
the Lord had said to Abram go from your country your people and your father's
household to the land I will show you I will make you into a great nation and I
will bless you I will make your name great 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 so Abram went as the Lord had told him a
lot went with him Abram was 75 years old when he set out from Heran he took his
wife I'm assuming that's like Sarai but I would just call Sarah his nephew lot
all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they required in Heran
and they set out for the land of Canaan and they arrived there Abram traveled
through the land as far as the site of the Great Tree of that one at B thank
you at that time the Canaanites were in the land the Lord appeared to Abram and
said to your offspring I will give this land so he built an altar there to the
Lord who had appeared to him from there he went on towards the hills east of
Bethel and pitched his tent went Bethel on the west and yeah I was gonna say
that but on the east there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the
name of the Lord so they're the first nine nine verses I'm gonna sort of break
this down you can thank you Graham I'm gonna try and break this down as best I
can into sort of three sections so the first three the middle sort of three and
the end three so it's just where I sort of done it so in the first verse God says
that even go from your country your people and your father's household so
Landau will show you which is is a big a big sort of ask of Abram to leave
everything knows everything he's been comfortable with everything you know
that he's been it says in I think those five of us four that he's 75 years old so
you can assume he's probably done a good stint there so you see you know where
he's been for the last few years and and just to sort of open leave to the
Landau will show you I will do that to the Landau will show you just just
quoting it but and that yeah like I was saying that's not an easy thing to do
you know he doesn't know sort of like sort of the food situation the sort of
what situation you know basic things housing it's gonna be anywhere to you
know park is camels stuff like that and it would take an immense amount of
trusting God and God's words we have to say yeah you know what I'm gonna say I'm
gonna ask any questions I hear what you're saying I'm gonna go and I'm gonna do
it I'm gonna leave everything I know I'm gonna take everything I know and I'm
gonna move out all right I've been I've been working at the Northern
General for about six months now and every single morning I take the same
route to work sometimes I start my dad sometimes I start my mum's it's not
much difference but I could tell you all the route but I'm not gonna you know I
hope that you're all still awake by the end of it and but I take the exact same
route every day and I have to I have to have Google Maps on because I won't I
don't trust myself to go there without it I know exactly where I'm going I know
exactly you know the sort of the frozen is taken if it's going to be late I'll
take this way if I'm gonna be early I take this way but every single time I
have to see where I'm going to be able to think yeah I'm confident I can get
there but you know I can't imagine someone saying to me let alone go to a
different site and work today or you know go to work without seeing where you're
going because I need that sort of visual input so for Abraham to be able to say
yeah I'm gonna listen to what God's saying I'm gonna go somewhere I don't
know where I'm going he's gonna show me on my route and not be able to you know
see like a map or a final destination or anything like that it takes a you
know a big amount of trust and you know land I will show you it's not
massively informative is it so you know and leaving the country is one thing
but you know leaving to go to a random other country is another and you know
over the first three verses I've got his promise in a lot to Abraham he says
make you into a great nation and I will bless you make your name great and you
will be a blessing and bless those who bless you curse those who curse you
and all peoples on earth will be blessed for you so again promise God is
promising a lot if Abraham is obedient to his instructions and trust him you
know I will bless those who bless you so you know everyone he meets will be
blessed through him and I'll protect you by cursing those who curse you and it
is a big a big promise which only can come from God that can't come from any
humanly source you know and trusting in God's word will give you these these
things that no human can provide they're just a quick recap for the first three
good as told Abraham to go somewhere that he will show him and he returns
promise to bless and protect him is all right if we could just get four and five
up Graham please so I'm just gonna reread them just a familiar ask myself so
Abraham went as the Lord had told him and what went with him Abraham was 75
years old when he sat out from her and he took his wife yeah his nephew a lot
and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had
acquired in her and they sat out for the land of Canaan and they arrived there
so fortunately Abraham makes the right decision by trusting God's words and and
he sets out you know Abraham went as the Lord had told him he took his wife and
left you with him and that sort of comes back in with the you know being
able to trust God and being obedient of God instructions which are two very
linked linked things in this sort of passage of verses because if you can it's
all good trusting God and saying yeah I trust your word and I know that you'll
bless and protect me but if it doesn't act on those and be obedient on those
instructions well first of all he's not gonna leave so he's not gonna get to the
land I will show you won't get to see whatever wonderful place I might be but
you know he's obviously blessed because as much as he's trusting in God he's
not doing what God's asking him to do and you know this sort of being obedient
and trusting God's word can be found in you know mortal parts of the Bible I
think the main one that stuck out to me was Noah and Noah's Ark because God has
said look you need to build a boat I did a bit of research as well actually so
apparently Noah's Ark was 450 feet long and a Boeing 747 is about
270 feet the Titanic was 800 feet you know it's a good good size and you
know you don't have like a crane or anything like that so you know it would
have taken him a long time it's not a five-minute job so God asking him to do
this is is a big thing so you know everyone to leave his country leave
everything he knows he's comfortable with and Noah to build a big ark and
get two of every animal and take his family and survive a flood and it's a
big ask and these decisions you know everyone will have decisions in their
own life where you're trusting in God's word I think it's important to seek out
and seek his direction and be able to trust in his word of the obedient of
where he tells you so I've currently got a decision to make myself regarding sort
of what I'm doing in my future and I currently work like I've been saying
but got a place for university in September to do physiotherapy which is
why I'm working now and I've got a decision to make do I carry on working
where I'm working and you know there's some other things that I won't go into
that a fat man's decision or go to university and and praying and seeking
out God's instruction on this is is sort of the root I'm taking it's the
right of something I'm assuming that's the right way yeah but yes afraid and
seeking out God's instruction but then there's always the possibility that God
will say to me look this is a really good option this is a really good option
but I want you to do this and that if God tells you that thing I'm gonna have to
trust him because I don't know what that might lead me into and I don't know
where that might take me but trusting in God's word and being obedient the
instructions will take me on the best path I can get and then be a just going
back so there's no being obedient of God's word saved him saved his family
Abram being obedient of God's word is gonna deliver him safely to where God
wants him to get where God wants him to get to so yeah so Abram has
agreed in and he's gathered everything he owns and all these people and being
obedient of God's instruction as everyone noticed and in verse 5 God
makes a very very quick one verse journey he sets off from her and then
arrives in in the same sentence so I don't know if he's kind of like
a week of extra breakfast or is it right for you to get verses 6 and 7 up
please
yeah there we go Abram traveled through the the land as far as the site of the
great tree of the at that time the Canaanites were in the land the Lord
appeared to Abram and said to your offspring I will give this land so he
built an also there to the Lord who had appeared to him so you know in these
verses it says to your offspring I will give this it give this land but at the
time it wasn't wasn't theirs to open it was the Canaanites own the land and
there isn't any sort of mention of how this this change over in ownership of
the land happens so I'm gonna sort of push that to one side and we'll ignore
that but it's it's again trusting in God and and he's promising this to him
it's not saying look if you go there I'll do be there safely but it's sort of
your own you to sort of everything out yourself it's I'll look this is what I
want you to do I'm gonna take you there you're gonna get there safely we've
listened to people and when you get there it'll be yours to own for your
offspring's home and that sort of thing is it's not being able to say look
you're gonna get delivered here and it'll be yours don't worry about it it's
very very easy to ask for Abram it would have been easy for us how how's that
gonna happen why why is this happening but he doesn't as well as far as this
documented and it's it's a term that and the user I was talking to you the
day trust is the bedrock of our faith so being able to trust in God and trust
that he's gonna say look this is what's gonna happen and then he's gonna do it
and follow through on it and you know the questionless faith and questionless
trust so not asking questions and not sort of saying right I know this is
what you tell me to do but I don't understand how you're gonna do it how
are you gonna how's this gonna happen how's this gonna happen why is this
happening that sort of that sort of thing is obviously not
Abram doesn't do that he just sort of trust going to things right this is what's
happening I know what I'm doing I'm gonna do it and he just and it will as
follows obviously but as I think especially for me for example if someone
asked me to do something that might seem sort of outlandish or strange I will I
will want to know why and I won't know how are you gonna how am I gonna do
that and I think it would be the same with anyone in the room you know I'm
not gonna point fingers or anything but I'm sure and everyone's own life this
thought right God something to do this how is this gonna happen how am I gonna
be able to pull this off how is it gonna work but and it's not something that's
easy and it's not something you can do sort of first hand around you know God
says right I want you to move country and I want you to help these people out
here I want you to go on this mission and help these people out it's it's not
something that you can say right okay I'll just do it you know it would be
especially if it's like the first time you've been asked to do it you would
want to ask how we want to know why wouldn't you so I think yeah that that
sort of questionless faith is something that I know I'm working on I'm sure
people today are also working on it themselves so yeah and then it sort of
it carries on this seven eight and nine to get if we could get them up
Graham please I'll give you a visit I'm sorry the Lord appeared to Abraham and
said to your offspring I will give this land so he built an altar there to the
Lord who had appeared to him from there he went on towards the hills east of
Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and on the east there he
built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord so he's for the
rest of this sort of end of my land verses is he's built an altar where he
can worship the Lord and where he can remember this encounter with God or
remember what he's promised to him and sort of just not let that sort of God's
instructions slide if that makes any sense so not letting what God's told him
go under the river like it's not his decision he's not chosen to do this he's
been told to do it and he's done it and now look where he is and he's got to
honor that by building an altar and praising God for it and yeah so he
continues on his journey and he eventually gets a building altars on
arrival so if you're going to take anything sort of away from from this
short sort of it's an hour long it's been amount of time I've been speaking for
it would be two things three things one is trusting in God's word two is
the obedient of his instructions however strange or peculiar or sort of
outlandish you might seem and three I'm not great at public speaking but I feel
like I've done a good job
I hope Andy gets his reception as well I'll be watching you as I'm sort of
going outside to try and stop shaking and sweating nervously but thank you
thank you
great job Jensen brilliant so I've got what ten minutes so this passage this
story of Abraham in this chapter is just a tiny tiny mirror of what it's
like to become a Christian and a tiny reflection of what it is to follow
Jesus today so so we have at the beginning that God chooses Abraham
right and for you and I as we're Christians we're following Jesus today
we might use the language that I've chosen Jesus or I've chosen to be a
Christian but the reality is behind that is that God has chosen you right great
new so this story immediately speaks to us today and the second thing that we
see is that God then gives Abraham a plan and a purpose and sets him off as
Jensen's told us on this journey not knowing where he's going or as we heard
from Paul in earlier get the out of thy country and he sets him off on a
purpose and the same is true for you and me as we follow Jesus that he gives us a
plan and a purpose we haven't chosen us the problem if we say we've chosen to
follow Jesus it kind of feels like it's for our benefit but actually God has
chosen you and has chosen you and given a purpose to you and to your life for
you to take hold of and then the next thing that Jensen's reminded us of is
that God has promised sent promises over Abraham he promises to bless him he
promises about how numerous his children are going to be he promises about his
offspring occupying the land and the same you know what is true for you and I
that God has spoken promises over your life that he will fulfill that are true
through the death and resurrection of Jesus and what was achieved on that
cross and God will always set out and fulfill his promises and not let them go
and so that's our first bit of the chapter and then we get to the second bit
of the chapter and it's just the same it's just like following Jesus and being a
Christian because we discover that Abraham makes a few mistakes made a few
bad decisions does something not quite right and you know what as Christians
we make a few mistakes and we do some things that are well not quite right and
we have to ask the question what's going on so three things I'm just going to read
the second half of the chapter if you put the words up grand but I'm going to
read them if you want to follow them please do now there was a famine in the
land and Abraham went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the
famine was severe as he was about to enter Egypt he said to his wife Sarah
I know what a beautiful woman you are when the Egyptians see you they will say
this is his wife then they will kill me but will let you live say you are my
sister so that I will be treated well for for your sake and my life will be
spared because of you when Abraham came to Egypt the Egyptians saw that she was
a very beautiful woman and when Pharaoh's official saw her they praised her to
Pharaoh and she was taken into his palace he treated Abraham well for her
sake and Abraham acquired sheep and cattle male and female donkeys men
servants and maid servants and camels but the Lord inflicted serious diseases on
Pharaoh and his household because of Abraham's wife Sarah so Pharaoh summoned
Abraham what have you done to me he said why didn't you tell me she was your
wife why did you say she is my sister so that I took her to be my wife now
then here is your wife poor woman take her and go then Pharaoh gave orders of
Abraham to his men and they sent him on his way with his wife and everything he
had three things hopefully quickly this that I pulled out of this the first thing
is God as we as Jensen told us God Abraham arrived at the land God had
promised he arrived at Canaan and you think great I'm in the will of God
I've got the place that God's got in store for me but what happens famine
that's right the famine there's a famine that God says I have a plan I have a
purpose for you this is it but then famine there's hardship there's
difficulty and how many times do we equate being in the will of God with
things going well with things making sense with things is adding up with life
being smooth and okay with relationships going well with the church going woo-hoo
and all that kind of stuff and how many times do we think we're out of the will
of God if things are difficult and we're out of sorts with people and things have
bad things are happening to us and we confuse that and it's a seduction of
modern Christianity that we think things should be going well and it isn't true
and I'm confident that because Jesus said in this world you will have but take
heart I have overcome the world so it's wrong of us and we think if things are
going badly you know in the type of language we use I'll be blunt and I'll
probably upset a few people it's things like oh I'm under attack right and we
use that sort of language and it kind of shifts what's really going on because
the question we got to ask all the time here is God still at work it is God
still at work in Abraham's life all this is going on and we'll come back to
that in a minute you see it must have been hard for him he's
thinking walking into God's plan he's doing this amazing thing of faith and
trust as Jensen's reminded us and he lands in this place of famine but how
often does the challenge come at the start of what God has called you to do
how often when God speaks and says promises into your life and wakes you up
to see what he's got in store and you think yeah I'm gonna make a step of
faith here how many times at the start of that do difficulties come just like
the Abraham here so often right look at Noah building the ark and they all mock
him and around him look at Nehemiah trying to rebuild the city and the
opposition that he has to do that look at Jesus at the start of his ministry
led by the spirit into the wilderness and tempted look at the early church
as God moves so powerfully persecution breaks out against them time and again
scriptures teachers and church history teachers but when God moves in power
and his people responding faith that there is difficulty and hardship and
conflict at that point in time and the challenge we have is what are we going
to do about that one four six I don't know if you meant to say this earlier
I thought you did right so so we've won for one four six you know we're in
faith for God has promised there for what's going on and we we mentioned at
the family night the other week about that the the applications we've put in
for grant funding and we talked about one we're going to the government that
would cover the rest of the balance as we have at the moment and then we heard
this week that we didn't get it and we didn't get any of it and any of that
money so we have to look elsewhere but we could think oh no is God really in
this is this really what's the no we fall back just like Abraham on the
promises of God we fall back just like Pauline on the promises of God because
he will fulfill what his word sets out over your life over my life over this
church over his church in this nation over this community because it is born
in the fact that he has chosen us and he has spoken promises over the same thing
out of this passage we read that he has to move to Egypt goes down to Egypt he
arrives at the place God has called him to one next he has to leave now I don't
know how the story goes because Jensen said we don't get a lot of detail but I
can kind of imagine that as he moved his family and his servants and his animals
and flocks from from her and all the way down to Canaan they kind of had a sense
what we're doing this because we're following God's word and God has spoken
to someone stood up by it and they kind of get to Canaan you can soon going back
to Abraham and saying this is so this is where God wants us right there's no
food we're going to die so Abraham has to get them all up again round them all
up against it right we're going down to Egypt but that's not where God wants us
to go he wants us here and so there's this challenge in this passage that he's
reached the place God wants him to be but actually just to survive he needs to
go somewhere else for the time being and this is to me as I read this I think
this is a great lesson in that most spiritual gift of common sense right
sorry you won't find it in one Corinthians or Romans 8 or although it is
that yeah it is the gift of wisdom but it is the gift of common sense and what
I mean by that is we have a tender why didn't Abraham stay in Canaan and say
right I'm in the place God has asked me to be God will deliver me God will
deliver us there's a famine here but God will provide and we have a great
tendency in a danger to over spiritualize things at times that means we're
trying to look for things and God is saying I just want you to exercise common
sense right go where there is food Abraham and so he leaves you know and it
just strikes me that sometimes it's okay to respond to what's going on around
and seemingly move away from the place God has called us to that's what this
teaches us and why is that again because behind the scenes it's God who has
chosen Abraham and God who was called Abraham and God who has spoken
promises over Abraham that he will fulfill and the same is true for you and
we can move ourselves through common sense or other reasons to a different
place that we don't really want to be and I really don't want to be up here as
the worship singer believe me right but God will move powerfully because at the
end of the day your life and my life are actually lived out in a context that
God has chosen you and God has spoken promises over you and it's not about
what we're doing so much it's about us learning what it is to trust God and
Abraham as we know is a man who is taught through scripture that he's a
hero of the faith that he's held up as the guy who is the father of the faith
but faith and trust are the things that we remember him for and yet he's got to
learn that and that is what's going on through this point at this point in time
sometimes it's not the message we want to hear but sometimes we need to move
God moves us to a place where we need to move to a place just out of common
sense remember Covid lockdown who wanted to be in that place right but there's an
element you might disagree with me there's an element of common sense about that
and just as I was thinking about so I had credits of my wife here who
suggested strongly that I started keeping a list of things I could use as
analogies in sermons and I was just looking through this one and I don't
know Terry, Terry Bamford if you're in 146 but I've got jotty down here in my
notes on the 24th of May 2020 and Janai visited Terry so this is what two
months into lockdown and he's still on his doorway and we stood six feet back
and we chatted about the message that have been out that morning online and I
wrote down visited Terry drawing lockdown he'd listened to the service on the
radio about the resurrection the disciples had been fishing all night and not
caught anything after the resurrection of Jesus and Jesus told them to cast
them out on the other side and Terry said what and the message was why should
they do that they know what to do they've been doing it all night now God asked
them to take a step of faith and try something different that they wouldn't
have done anyway because that's not how they do it and Terry bless him he
compared that he's telling us compared that to being in lockdown God has got
us doing things that we never would have done because they were not part of our
routine not how we do things and yet we've done it and God has blessed us you
know bless you Terry for spotting something when we're in a place where we
don't want to be and actually God is teaching us stuff and the irony now is
that Terry I hope is in 146 and the guys are in 146 with the benefit of stuff
we learned to do in lockdown and stream stuff out there that's great so the
third thing I just want to bring out is in this story is there's this strange
story about what he does with his wife Sarah you know there's this cultural
pressure being applied to Abraham as he ends up in Egypt and how does he
respond you know we've gone from a story of a man who is exercising faith and
trusting God on this journey to a man who abdicates his own responsibility makes
his wife extremely vulnerable when he's supposed to protect her and do all of
that just to save his own skin it's the same guy that's exercising faith and
trust in following God's okay now how did this well first off I'd say this is a
great story of how God works with broken mixed up people hallelujah because we
all do that right we all make mistakes we all do things wrong and God works in
us but the pressure of the culture and the circumstances conspired to make him
act out of self-preservation rather than faith and it's the same today when you
and I when we drift from the place of blessing when we drift from the place
that God has brought us to when we lose that passion that we once had and that
singleness of vision when we first responded to him then we become
vulnerable to the pressures of society around us of the circumstances we
find ourselves of the culture in which we live and when that happens we lower
the bar and we trust ourselves rather than trusting God and we trust our gifts
and abilities rather than trusting his promises and we want to save our own
skin rather than lean into the fact God has chosen us and called us by name
everything about the gospel screams the opposite Jesus resisted not only
resisted but spoke out against the prevailing culture of his day as did
Paul and Peter and the other apostles as we go through the rest of the New
Testament as does the early church as the church history when you read through
church history and see when the church is on fire for Jesus and God is moving
powerfully they're speaking out against the ills of society of that day
there's a ask the question how does the cultural pressure that we have today turn
our eyes from the call of God on us to be more bothered about saving our own
skin you know we haven't got time to go into that I'll leave that for you to
think about maybe that's a good bit of homework but think you know how does how
does our succumbing to the advertising industry reduce us down to being more
bothered about our own skin than actually following the call of God how does the
the proliferation of the entertainment industry and something that is so
temporary and so transient become something that's so important in the
world today how do we respond to that how do we respond to the sexualization of
everything and anything that is out there right now how do we respond to the
proliferation of technology that means I can do anything good or bad very
easily thank you very much on the device in my hand how do we respond to
that how do we how do we resist the culture around us trying to squeeze it
into its mold and encouraging us to become men and women who have simply
want to be quiet and not raise our head but actually become men and women hold
on to his promises how do we challenge the the issues of sexuality of gender
confusion confusion of racism of abortion of the rich and poor divide of the
confused mishmash of values and society all of which are complex right I'm not
simplifying that at all but there's a tendency as Christians that in this
damn age to let us the squeeze us down and push us down and like Abraham
responding to the culture of his time being more bothered about saving his
own skin rather than leaning back into and trusting the promises of God he'd
been called by God to a massive purpose to be the father of nations who's
faith in God to be a shining example and in his following of God to reflect
something of the Jesus that was to come and we too you and I this morning here
in 146 watching online we've been called we've been chosen by the same God that
chose Abraham we've been called and chosen by name and we are being built
into his church right now to be a light for the nations to speak and live out
the resurrection of Jesus to pray his kingdom in to pray the not yet kingdom
into the here and now so that we see him move and transform people's lives what
are calling that we have it's massive so let's stand together against the
pressures around us and encourage one another and let us learn to put others
not ourselves first and pursue the glory of Jesus in this life with our
strength and resolve together leaning into that very fact we had at the
beginning that it is God who has called us and it is God who has given us a
plan and a purpose and it is God who has spoken promises over your life and our
life and so we can give ourselves to trust him as Paul writes don't conform
any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind and I just finish with for some strange reason I've had a really
old hymn from when I was a kid going around my head follow him follow him
yield your life to him he has conquered death he is King of Kings
accept the joy which he gives to those who yield their lives to him Amen