Sermon Tone Analysis
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Part of being a pastor, means people come to me and want to get the God angle of life.
They want to know what the Bible says about certain issues and current events.
Last Sunday, there was the shooting in Las Vegas.
This was a terrible tragedy.
It seems as if everyone I talk to knows at least one person who was there or was affected by it.
And every time it’s talked about people want to know why it happened.
How could God allow this to happen?
Is there a God?
If God is good how could He let this happen?
Though they are honest questions, underneath these questions is a subtle attack against God.
They ask me, and they ask Christians these questions, not because of genuine curiosity, but more because they wonder how we can have faith in the face of such horror.
Underneath these questions, is an underlying question of do we still believe?
Do I still faith, or am I so appalled that I thrown in the towel?
Today as we go through our text, we will see 3 great reasons to trust in the Lord in the face of tragedy and hardship.
We see 3 reasons to persevere in our faith.
And these 3 reasons are timeless truths.
They are true when there is a shooting in Las Vegas.
They are true when you struggle financially.
They are true when you are sick.
And they are true when you are genuinely joyful.
I’ll tell you these points now, and we will tackle each one as we go through our text.
We trust God because of His Word.
We trust God because of His sovereignty.
And we trust God because of His Promise.
Let’s first look at trusting God because of His Word.
We will be in today, a truly memorable and powerful passage.
This is one of those passages I’m deeply honored to preach from.
As we examine trusting God because of His Word, let’s look at .
Read .
This passage begins with a great promise from God.
God has made him some pretty tremendous promises.
You see it in verse 1, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
Those are good words aren’t they?
He’s promised Abraham a land, a nation, and to become a nation.
They are words that we need to hear.
They are words that you need to hear.
Especially when we struggle.
“Fear not” -
When life is scary, and I’d certainly say this past week was a scary week.
Each of you know someone who was there in Las Vegas.
You are grateful they are okay.
The scary thing is that these things happen when we least expect it.
And it scares us.
What does God tell us?
Fear not.
God says, “I am your shield;”
Why don’t we need to fear?
Because God is our defender.
God is sovereign over life and death.
And neither of those can happen without His permission.
Your reward shall be very great.
God has promised Abraham some great things.
He’s promised to make out of Abraham a great nation, who has a great land, and through Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed.
Truly great promises.
And yet, like many people this week, Abraham doubted.
Sure God, you speak a big game, but how can I be sure.
Abraham doubts.
God’s made some huge promises to him, but Abraham’s wondering how they can actually come true.
Abraham’s been promised to become the head of a nation, yet he is childless.
He’s only getting older.
His wife is only getting older.
This promise is beginning to seem impossible.
Abraham has this habit of hearing the promise of God, but not taking God literally, not taking Him at His word.
Many Christians do that today.
They read the Bible, and they read the promises of God.
Perhaps concerning creation, the resurrection, eternity or even Christ returning, and they think -
God must not have meant it literally.
Things are taking too long.
That seems physically impossible.
God must have meant it another way.
Abraham heard that God would bless his offspring, but with him being childless he begins to question how literally God meant it.
In verse 2 he mentions Eliezer, a servant of his.
He thinks, maybe if he adopts Eliezer, then he would qualify as his offspring, and then the promise would be fulfilled.
The promise would be fulfilled, just from a different point of view then he was expecting.
He doubted God’s clear intention.
He tried to reinterpret it.
And he then receives the promises.
But this was not the plan.
Verses 4 clarifies God’s plan.
“This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”
I don’t really like the way the ESV translates it this way.
The ESV says your very own son shall be the heir, but the Hebrew is much stronger.
All the other translations seem to pick up on the distinction.
The NASB says that the son will come from his own body.
The NIV says that the son will be his own flesh and blood.
The KJV is closest, he says the son shall come forth out of thine bowels.
The language of the text is that this child will be Abraham’s own biological son, a product of normal procreation.
Then as an added bonus, God takes Abraham outside and tells him to look at the night sky above him.
He says count the stars above, if you’re able too.
He then says, this is how many descendants you will have.
They will be like the stars in the sky.
One source I read, said that in our own Milky Way Galaxy, there is an estimated 300 billion stars.
That’s a huge number, and God says that will be what descendants will be like.
So why should we trust God?
Because of His Word.
He has said, “This is what I will do.”
This past week in our Family Discipleship book we learned that we aren’t to lie.
Why don’t we lie?
Not just because it’s a sin, and not just because it’s wrong, but because God doesn’t lie.
He tells the truth, He is truth.
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