October 17 - God’s Rescue Plan – A Special People –
Genesis 12:1-9
We believe that
God created a good and beautiful world. However, this beautiful creation is broken
because the first humans decided that they would be better off being God than
serving God. Humanity continues to choose this path of destruction. The good
news is that God is not content to leave us in our brokenness. God takes on
human flesh and blood to rescue us and show us the way into life’s purpose and
meaning.
God does not leave
us in our sin or abandon creation in its brokenness. In a broken world, God
calls a broken, faithful man. Abraham is not perfect, but he has a longing for
God. In a world that is terribly broken and makes little sense, Abraham knows
there is a God reaching out to him. It is out of this experience of God that
Abraham hears God’s call to leave all he knows for a land he does not know. And
there is a promise tied to this call: that Abraham and the people of the world
will be blessed. The point of the blessing is that they will know the love of
God and life’s meaning and purpose, and have a community in which to grow up in
a broken world. Today, God continues to call people to be a blessing.
The mission of God
is revealed through the incarnational approach of God in Abraham, the people of
Israel, and the prophets. God uses people like you and me to accomplish God’s
work of redemption and transformation. Abraham has a heart for God. Because
Abraham steps out in faith trusting God, there is a promise that he will be
blessed: that he will know the fullness of life that comes in a relationship with
God and that others will be blessed through him. In other words, through Abraham
and his descendants, others will come to know the joy of living into God’s
purposes.
This blessing
becomes the call of Israel. However, when the people fail to live in response to
God’s blessing, the prophets continually call the people back to their purpose
to be a blessing.
Read aloud Genesis
12:1–9.
“12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your
father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “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. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through
the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time
the Canaanites were in the land. 7 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. 8 From there he went on toward the hills east
of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.
There he built an altar to the Lord and called
on the name of the Lord.9 Then Abram
set out and continued toward the Negev.”
Think about how you
have stepped out in faith in ways that caused you to know more clearly the
purposes of God. Think about the ways LMPC is currently blessing this community
and ways the church can be more of a blessing. What are the major areas of
brokenness in our community? How is LMPC being used by God to heal our
community? How can you participate?
Find three people
you can be a blessing to this month. One person can be a person who is hard for
you to love. Examples of ways to be a blessing:
1)
Rake the leaves or sweep the driveway of your neighbor.
2)
Be intentional in conversation, inviting people to talk about their lives.
(Listening is a great gift.)
3)
Pay for the person behind you in a drive-through line.
4)
Intentionally go to a place of business in a part of town that is struggling
economically.
5)
Let others go ahead of you in the checkout line.
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