You know, when you’re getting to know someone, there’s often a question
that gets asked. And the question is, what’s your story? And when
someone asks you that question, how do you usually respond? What is your
story? And and what are the parts of your story that you share?

And when
you think about your story, where does your faith show up in that story? As you tell your story, the story of your life, where in that do you
talk about the Lord and what he’s done for you. For me, when I think
about my story, I usually break it up into kind of phases of life. I
think about my my childhood and coming to know the Lord at a young age
and and what it’s like to be a child and just have faith in Jesus, to
just understand that that he’s real and that his word is true. And just
those very simple things.

I think about when I was in junior high and
experienced the Lord in a in a new way where I felt that that closeness
of relationship with him. I think about high school and a time of
testing in the faith. I think about college and a time of defending my
faith. And so I kind of think about these different phases of life. And
we all have those we have those different phases, those different
moments.

And in each phase there’s a story. there’s something that God
did in in that time. A lot of times when people say, “Hey, what’s your
testimony?” A lot of times we can just talk about how we came to know
the Lord. But your testimony is an ongoing thing that you can continue
to share. Here’s what God has been doing in my life recently.

And I’d
encourage you to be thinking about that this morning as we walk through
this this text together. We’ve been in the series uh going through the
Psalms. And we’re going to be wrapping it up today in Psalm 105. And
Psalm 105, it’s a story. And it’s the faith story of the nation of
Israel.

And we’re actually going to see that even the nation of Israel
itself kind of goes through these different phases of life. We have the
birth of Israel and kind of this infancy stage. And then we’ll get on
through the teenage years and and move towards adulthood as the nation
of Israel comes into its own. But as we look through all of it, I want
you to pay attention to how this psalm tells the story of Israel. Because it’s not just here’s all the things that happened to Israel.

It’s a story of here’s how God was at work. And as you read that, I want
you to be considering your life, your story, and how has God been at
work in your life? What has God been doing that you might be able to
share with somebody else? So, if you have your Bible with you, go ahead
and turn to Psalm 105. And as you do, I’ll just mention a few things
about this psalm.

Uh, this psalm does not tell us the author. A lot of
the psalms, it’ll say a psalm of David. It’ll tell us who wrote it. This
one is left anonymous, but we do have the audience. It does tell us who
it was written to, and it’s written to the offspring of Abraham.

It’s
written to the people of Israel, the nation, because this is their
story. And so wherever they were in their life, they could look back and
see this is our story. This is our roots and this is what God did for
us. And he’s the same God who’s with us today. So let me pray for us and
we’re going to dive into this together.

Father, we thank you for your
goodness and your faithfulness. And Lord, as we read the story of
Israel, God, would it be an encouragement to us that the same God who
did all these incredible things for them that you are here with us today
and you’re working in our lives in the same way. Help us to see and
remember what you’ve done for us and encourage us, Lord, with whatever
might be a next step for us to take. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.

this
psalm as we get into it, we’re going to see that it’s really a summary
of the first six books of the Bible. And so it might look like a long
psalm in in your Bible, but it’s actually really short when you consider
all the history being covered in just a short passage. And so we’re
going to dive into that together. But you’ll see first there’s like an
introduction. So take a look with me at verses 1- six.

Oh, give thanks
to the Lord. Call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him. Sing praises to him.

Tell of all his wondrous works. Glory
in his holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his presence continually.

Remember
the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he
uttered. Oh offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his
chosen ones. So right here at the beginning of the psalm before it gets
into the story itself, there’s this call and the call is is really two
things. One is to make known his deeds, to tell of his wondrous works. We are to share about what God has done.

And so if you want to know what
God has done, there’s two places to look. One is look right here. You
look in the scriptures and from beginning to end, this is the story of
what God is doing. This is the story of what God has accomplished. And
we have a responsibility to tell people this story.

But what what’s the
other place to look? Well, it’s you. It’s your life. You have a story. What has God done in your life?

And you have the opportunity to share
that with people. you have the responsibility to share that with people. You know, often times when you’re learning something new, they say the
best way to learn something is to teach it to others. Well, if you want
to get good at worshiping the Lord, tell your story to other people. You’re going to be reminding yourself as you tell them what God has
done, and that’s going to bring you closer to him.

It’s going to cause
you to want to worship. We’re called here to make known and to tell, but
also to remember. It says, “Remember the wondrous works.” Telling is for
others, but remembering that’s for yourself. [snorts] It’s so important
for ourselves in our life that we would stop and think back, look back
and see what has God done, where has God worked in your life? What has
God brought you through?

What has God done for you? to look back and to
consider. When we tell people and we remember, it naturally causes us to
do the next thing we see in this psalm, which is to respond. We’re
called to give thanks, to sing to him, and to rejoice. So when you
consider all that God has done, that should cause us to worship.

It
should cause us to give thanks. And so if you want to grow as a a
worshipper, as a follower of Jesus Christ, tell your story, think about
your story, look back on it, and then give thanks to God for what he has
done. So now the psalmist after setting this the stage for what it looks
like to remember and to give thanks, then says, “Okay, now let me tell
you our story.” And so we get to look back with the nation of Israel at
their story starting with really the birth of the nation. And we’re
going to look uh picking up here in verse 7 says, “He is the Lord our
God. His judgments are in all the earth.

He remembers his covenant
forever. The word that he commanded for a thousand generations. The
covenant that he made with Abraham. his sworn promise to Isaac, which he
confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
saying,”To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an
inheritance.” Here we see the birth of Israel. And it begins with one
man, Abraham, but specifically with God’s promise to Abraham.

And this
is a promise that God keeps just like all of his promises. And God never
fails. When God makes a promise, he sees it through to completion. So,
we’re reminded here about the promise that God made to Abraham. What was
that promise?

God promised to turn Abraham and his family into a great
nation. That from one man would come an entire nation more numerous than
the stars. that there would be all kinds of people that would descend
from Abraham and they would become this marvelous people group. But not
only would they become this group of people, they would have a land of
their own that God would give them this land which he promised to them. And we’re going to see how God is going to fulfill this promise, how God
is going to keep his covenant to Abraham from beginning to end despite
all the things that threaten that promise.

And so God promised this to
Abraham. He then confirmed it with Abraham’s son Isaac and then Isaac’s
son Jacob. And all throughout as the Israelites later on in history,
hundreds of years later, are reading this psalm. It’s a reminder for
them, God is still faithful. God is keeping his covenant promise.

But it
all started with someone. It started with Abraham. And what’s the
starting point for Abraham? I think this is so important that we don’t
miss this. Abraham’s starting point is a place of faith.

And God then is
faithful to him. God is faithful to Abraham and God is faithful to us. In fact, what God starts, God always finishes. He always completes. In
the New Testament, we’re told this in Philippians 1:6.

It says,“I am
sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to
completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Now, if you’ve given your life
to Jesus, God has started a good work in you. He has started the work of
transforming your life, transforming your heart so that over time you
would look more like his son Jesus Christ. And that work God will see
through to completion for us at the moment of our death. That’s the
moment that that work finds its completion. It’s done.

We are
transformed and we experience eternal life and we look like his son. But
you can experience that transformational work right now and God is going
to see it through to completion. But I would ask you this as you think
about this that God begins things and God completes things. What’s
something that God started in you? What’s something that God stirred in
you and was a part of your life at one point that maybe you’ve put on
the back burner?

Maybe after you came to know Christ, there was a moment
in your life when you had an understanding with God of this is what my
life is going to look like now. This is how I’m going to live for you,
Jesus. This is what I’m going to do for you. Here’s how I’m going to
serve and and use my life for you. And maybe you started in that place
and have kind of let that slide off from your priorities list and
somehow other things have crept in and become more important and
competed for attention.

What might it look like to bring those things
back before the Lord and say, “God, this was my heart at one point with
you. You started something in me. You stirred something up in my life. God, would you see that through to completion?” And to offer yourself up
to him. Maybe God started a work of transformation in you from past
behaviors, hurts, habits, and hang-ups.

and and maybe you were involved
in celebrate recovery and there came a moment when you got stuck again
and you started to go backwards. What would it look like to bring those
things again to the Lord and say, “God, you started a work in me. God,
would you see it through to completion?” Because guess what? God is
faithful. He does not give up on you.

He’s going to continue working in
your life. But we’re really good at resisting sometimes, aren’t we? And
so it’s so important that we offer ourselves up to him and say, “God,
would you take me? Would you work on me? Would you work in me?

And would
you see this through to completion?” What God promises, God delivers on. And the biggest promise, of course, is that God has promised us eternal
life. For those who have faith in Jesus Christ and a relationship with
him, we have a promised land that God has has prepared for us and is
preparing for us. We just need to follow him and remain faithful and
trust. So, as we look at this, let’s take a look specifically at the
starting point for Abraham.

And I see it reflected in James chapter 2 23
looking back on the life of Abraham. James says, “And the scripture was
fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as
righteousness and he was called a friend of God.” You see, when God made
this promise to Abraham, Abraham believed him. Abraham trusted him. And
it’s because of Abraham’s faith that Abraham is called a righteous
person. He believed God.

He trusted him. And therefore, he followed him. When God first came to Abraham, he said,“Abraham, I want you to go to a
place that I will show you.” Have you ever had somebody come to you and
say, “Hey, I’m going to take you somewhere. I just want you to follow
me, but I’m not going to tell you where you’re going.” It takes a lot of
trust. Abraham trusted the Lord.

He had faith in him. He had confidence
that where God was taking him was going to be a good place. And God
wants to take you a good place in your life. He’s got something for you,
but you have to follow him as well. The starting point is trust.

It’s
belief. It’s faith. That’s what Abraham did. And God sees it through to
completion. So the our starting point has to be the belief also.

In
fact, Romans 10:10 says, “For with the heart one believes and is
justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Just as
Abraham believed God and God said that that counted to him as
righteousness, when we believe in Jesus, when we accept that he died for
our sins on the cross, that he gave his life to set us free and that
Jesus resurrected, that he is alive. When we believe that and we confess
Jesus is Lord, guess what? Through faith, we have received the promise
of God. We are trusting in him. We’ve received salvation and now we
believe and trust that when we die, we’re going to have eternal life
with him.

And that promise, God fulfills. God keeps that covenant. If
you’re here today and you have not placed your faith in Jesus yet, you
don’t have a relationship with him, you can talk to me afterwards or you
can go into the prayer room and talk with one of our leaders. We would
love to talk to you about what it means to give your life to Jesus. But
the starting point is faith.

It’s trust and it’s belief. So Abraham
trusted in God and believed God’s promise. But how do we get from
Abraham then to a whole nation? Well, let’s take a look as Israel enters
not enters now into the uh the toddler years. So verse 12, when they
were few in number, of little account, and sojourers in it, wandering
from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, he allowed no
one to oppress them.

He rebuked kings on their account, saying, “Touch
not my anointed ones. Do my prophets no harm.” So here we have Abraham. He’s got a little family now. And as Abraham travels through the land,
at any point, if Abraham’s life is snuffed out, guess what? God can’t
deliver on the promise.

And so Abraham is protected time and time again. What God promises, God protects. No matter what threatens that promise,
God sees it through to completion and he protects the promise. And so in
in Genesis 20, you can read one of these stories as neighbor as Abraham
is protected from what threatens the promise. But notice here that uh in
verse 15, he says, “Touch not my anointed ones.

Do my prophets no harm.”
Now, when you think about prophets in the Bible, a lot of times we think
later on in scripture, people like Isaiah who were prophets of God who
spoke to the people and delivered God’s message. But Abraham is referred
to as a prophet. How is that? Abraham didn’t stand in front of a big
group of people and deliver a message. But everything about Abraham’s
life and the promises that God made Abraham point forward.

They point to
Jesus Christ. They point to what Jesus would do. In fact, when you read
the New Testament, Abraham’s name is brought up 72 times in the New
Testament because everything about Abraham points forward to Jesus. The
only person mentioned more from the Old Testament in the New Testament
is Moses. And we’re going to see Moses show up in this story also
because these are all men who are part of this story that God was
weaving together to fulfill his promise.

And this promise is not just
for the nation of Israel. This promise applies to all of us. And we’ll
get to that in just a little bit. But it says in Galatians chapter 3 in
verse 29, if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs
according to the promise. So in other words, through faith, if you’ve
placed your faith in Jesus, then the promise to Abraham applies to us
also.

Now, we as the church, we have not replaced Israel. Israel still
has its own unique story, but we now share in their history. God’s
promise to Abraham ultimately gets fulfilled in Jesus Christ. When God
spoke to Abraham, he said, “Through your family, all the families of the
earth will be blessed.” Well, guess what? That includes us.

And the
Bible talks about how we as as Christians today, we have been grafted in
to the tree of Israel. We’ve been included now. So when we read the
story of what God did in Israel, we’re reading part of our story as God
rescues them, as God works in them, it’s all pointing forward to how God
ultimately would rescue and save us. And we also are on our way to a
promised land. But for us, we’re talking about eternal life.

Not just
physical real estate, but eternal life. So Abraham receives the promise. The promise passes on to his son Isaac and then Isaac to Jacob. God
comes to Jacob and he does a work in Jacob’s life and Jacob’s name gets
transformed and changed from Jacob to Israel. So now we see Israel,
what’s ultimately going to be a nation, but at this time it’s still just
one man.

So Israel, Jacob, has 12 sons. These 12 sons eventually are
going to be known as the 12 tribes of Israel. But at this time, they’re
just 12 brothers. And just like any good soap opera, it’s full of all
kinds of drama if you read the story. There’s all kinds of family
dynamics in the family of Abraham.

And so here amongst these 12
brothers, uh, they don’t all get along. And in particular, they’re upset
with their little brother, Joseph. And so what do they do? They throw
Joseph down a well. Joseph is then sold into slavery.

Joseph ends up
falsely accused and in prison, not in good circumstances. After this
time, you know, his brothers have lied about uh his condition. So, some
of the family thinks he’s dead. Fast forward to this moment where
there’s a famine in the land. And so, Joseph’s brothers, they’re all in
need.

They’re going to starve. So, they go to Egypt. And here’s what
happens as we enter now into Israel’s, we’ll call this their early
childhood. Verse 16. When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all
supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold
as a slave.

His feet were hurt with feathers. His neck was put in a
collar of iron until what he said came to pass. The word of the Lord
tested him. The king sent and released him. The ruler of the people set
him free.

He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions
to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom. So
this is a great summary of what happens with the rest of the book of
Genesis. So here’s Joseph in prison, shackles around his feet, a collar
around his neck, and he ends up elevated. He he interprets the dream of
the pharaoh, and he goes from really the the lowest of lows to then
suddenly in a short amount of time being made second in command of the
entire nation of Egypt. one of the most powerful people in the world in
one of the most powerful nations in the world.

So he’s in this
incredible position now of power. His brothers are facing famine. They
go where? To Egypt to find help to see if they could find favor. Who do
they run into?

Their brother Joseph. They don’t know it’s him. And
Joseph uses this to his advantage. [snorts] He tests them to see what’s
in their heart. But ultimately through Joseph, they find salvation.

They
find food. They get what they need. Joseph is able to protect the
family. Now, here’s what’s fascinating. Look again at the phrase here.

It says he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a
slave. He had sent a man ahead of them. For Joseph, do you think when he
was in that well that he felt God sent him? For Joseph, when he was sold
into slavery, do you think he had a feeling of God sent me here? When
Joseph was thrown into prison, do you think he felt like he was on a
mission from God?

And yet, through all of those circumstances, God was
working and God had sent him and God had prepared him so that he would
end up in the right place at the right time to save his family. Maybe
that’s you right now. Maybe as you look at your life and the things
going on, you don’t understand why you are where you are in life. Maybe
you’re unsure of why certain things have happened or how they’ve gone. Why why is this happening to me?

Maybe, just maybe, God has sent you
ahead. And maybe it’s not about your story, but it’s for the sake of
someone else. You don’t know if a simple conversation, a handshake, a
smile could be the thing in someone else’s life that God uses in a
profound way so that at some point someone else’s story could be said
about you that God has sent you ahead of them. So, Joseph at the end of
the book of Genesis, he’s able to look back and reflect on all that had
happened and he’s speaking with his brothers. He’s speaking with his
family and here’s what he says in Genesis 50 20.

He says, “As for you,
you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about
that many people should be kept alive as they are today.” What an
incredible statement. Joseph was an incredible man that he was able to
look back and see, you know what? I know my brother’s meant to do me
harm, but look how God used this specifically to save their lives. And
this thing that Joseph says right here extends far beyond his own family
as he says to bring it about that many people should be kept alive. You
know that when you’re reading the New Testament and you read the
genealogy of Jesus, it goes all the way back to Abraham.

If at any point
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, these 12 brothers all die and that’s the end. They have no descendants, well, the line is cut off. It doesn’t get to
Jesus. And it’s through Jesus that we all have life. We have salvation.

So, do you see how Joseph going to prison, Joseph being sold into
slavery, Joseph being thrown down a well leads to our salvation? It’s
all connected in God’s story. What God promised Abraham, God is seeing
through to completion. God is bringing it to fulfillment. That’s pretty
amazing to watch.

Are you trusting how God’s working in your life? Do
you see how the pieces fit together? We’re never going to see it all. Not here. Not now, but one day.

And I believe God is weaving together a
beautiful tapestry of all the stories of all of our lives and how it all
connects. [snorts] It’s because of what Jesus has done. So the rest of
their story is summed up now in verse 23. It simply says, “Then Israel
came to Egypt. Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.” So here they are,
these 12 brothers, their families, and they end up settling in Egypt.

Joseph is in this incredible [snorts] position of power. And now we’re
going to see a time period of 400 years go by as Israel grows and
develops. We’re going to say here they enter into young adolescence. So
verse 24 says, “And the Lord made his people very fruitful and made them
stronger than their foes and he turned their hearts to hate his people
to deal craftily with his servants.” So essentially what happens here is
from you know this small family they grow. They become a whole people
group.

They multiply. They become strong. so strong that the Egyptians
now feel threatened. And a time comes when they don’t remember Joseph. That’s just a name of the past.

And so what happens? The Israelites
become enslaved. They are now slaves in Egypt. The promise is not
complete yet. They’re starting to become a nation, but they don’t have
their own land.

They don’t have their own ruler. But they’ve they’ve
grown. They become a big people group. So now once again the promise is
threatened. How will God fulfill it?

So the story continues. Verse 26. He sent Moses, his servant and Aaron whom he had chosen. They performed
signs among them and miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and
made the land dark.

They did not rebel against his words. He turned
their waters into blood and caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed
with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings. [snorts] He spoke and
there came swarms of flies and gnats throughout their country. He gave
them hail for rain and fiery lightning bolts through their land.

He
struck down their vines and fig trees. He shattered the trees of their
country. He spoke and the locust came which devoured young locust
without number which devoured all the vegetation in their land and ate
up the fruit of their ground. He struck down all the firstborn in their
land the first fruits of all their strength. So now we have here a
summary of what happens in the story in Exodus.

[snorts] Israel finds
themselves slaves in Egypt. And God sends Moses and his brother Aaron to
go speak with the Pharaoh and ask that the Pharaoh would let the people
go, that they could go worship God on this mountain freely. And again
and again, Pharaoh refuses. And so God sends signs. God sends plagues to
show his power and his authority and his dominance over Egypt.

And time
and time again, Pharaoh said no. until finally the death of the
firstborn of every household. And we get to this moment. We know it as
the Passover when those that took a lamb and took the blood and put it
over their door post that God passed over them that they were saved. And
it’s in that moment that God brought salvation to the nation of Israel.

They’re set free. And so we continue in verse 37. Then he brought out
Israel with silver and gold, and there was none among his tribes who
stumbled. Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had
fallen upon it. So there’s this incredible moment of God providing
salvation for his people.

And they’re free, but they’re still not in the
promised land. They’ve still got a ways to go, but they really make it
hard for themselves in the next part of the story. So, we enter into
this time period that I’m going to call Israel’s teenage years. It’s a
time of complaining and rebellion. And they end up wandering through the
wilderness.

And as you read the book of Numbers, this is where you’re
going to find most of this story. You see time and time again Israel’s
failure, their sin, their disbelief, their rebellion, their complaining,
their grumbling. It is a book filled with failure. But you know what’s
interesting? Look how the psalmist describes that time period.

Verse 39. He spread a cloud for covering and fire to give light by night. They
asked and he brought quail. He gave them bread from heaven in abundance. He opened the rock and water gushed out.

It flowed through the desert
like a river. for he remembered his holy promise [snorts] and Abraham
his servant. Everyone in Israel knew the story. They knew how bad they
had been. They knew how horrible it was.

But the psalmist doesn’t
mention any of that. Psalmist doesn’t talk about all the problems and
all the failures. The psalmist says, “Look at what God did. Look what
God was doing through all of this. Look how God was faithful.

Look at
how God provided. Let me ask you, when you tell your story, whether
you’re talking about your life or this most recent year or last month or
last week or yesterday, what details do you focus on? Do you talk about
just how hard things are, how bad things have been, all the problems
that you’ve encountered? Or do you stop to consider where is God
working? Where’s God moving?

What has God been doing? How has God been
good and faithful in spite of all those things? Something to consider to
think about how you tell your story. But look at what it says again in
verse 42. Why did God do all this?

Why was God faithful? It says,”For he
remembered his holy promise and Abraham, his servant.” This is hundreds
of years later. There’s so many Israelites at this point. And yet God is
talking about one of them from hundreds of years before, Abraham, and
the promise that he made. God is holding true that promise.

Abraham
didn’t get to see that promise fulfilled in his lifetime. But this
promise made to him, God is still completing, fulfilling, delivering on. It’s still happening. God remembers it. And that’s why God rescues them
from Egypt.

It’s because of Abraham and his promise to him. I hope you
see that God is a God of relationships. God is a God of relationships. That verse I read from James describes Abraham as a friend of God. God
wants a relationship with you.

You see, the starting point for Abraham
was faith. It was belief, but then it moved into a relationship. God
knows you intimately. He knows everything about you, but he wants you to
know him. He wants you to spend time with him.

He wants you to have a
true, genuine, authentic relationship with him. He’s a God of
relationship. All throughout scripture, God is referred to as the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He’s their God. Is he your God?

If someone
asked your friend, “Hey, who do you worship?” Would they be able to say,
“I worship the God of that person. Is your relationship with the Lord
the kind of relationship that people associate you with him? When they
think of you, they think of your relationship with Jesus. Are you living
out your faith in a way that people can see? Are you sharing your story?

Are you sharing the things that God is doing in your life so that people
know you have a relationship with him? Where’s it showing up? Where’s
your story coming out? How do people know that you have a relationship
with Jesus? Do they know or is it something you keep to yourself?

It’s
not meant to be. God calls us to share, to tell of his wondrous works. God is working in your life just like God worked in the life of Abraham
and kept his promise. So now we move forward in the story. We get to
what I’m going to call young adult Israel.

And we get a summary of the
book of Joshua, even though he’s not mentioned by name here. Verse 43. So he brought out his people with joy, his chosen ones with singing, and
he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the
fruit of the people’s toil, that they might keep his statutes and
observe his laws. Praise the Lord.

So here we get this the end of this
summary of the story of Israel as they as they get brought out of Egypt
and they go to the promised land but they have to conquer all these
people that are in their way. Each nation that they faced was a threat
to the promise and ultimately God keeps his promise and they be they
dwell in the land and they become the nation of Israel. Later on they
would get to where they have a king. So through all of this, God
remained faithful. But notice that he brought them to the land for a
purpose.

He didn’t bring them to the land to just sit down and do
nothing and be happy and enjoy it. Look at what it says again. That they
might keep his statutes and observe his laws. God rescued them. God was
faithful to them.

And then what God wanted from them was that they would
serve him. That they would in relationship with him follow him just like
Abraham who believed God. And then Abraham lived a righteous life. He
followed the Lord. That’s what we’re called to do.

When you believe in
Jesus and you enter into relationship with him, it’s not just to get
your free ticket to heaven. It’s not just to get saved. He then wants
you to do something with your life. He wants you to serve him. When you
read through this psalm again, notice how Abraham and Moses are referred
to as servants.

Talks about the people of Israel being chosen. Talks
about Aaron being chosen. There were a lot of people chosen, but not
everyone was called a servant. Abraham was called a servant. Moses was
called a servant.

When people look at your life, do they see you serving
Jesus? [snorts] We started out our service today with uh Pastor Gordon
and Pastor Allan sharing about all the opportunities that we have in our
church where you can serve. And you can go to bvg.org/serve. And you can
uh see a whole list of all the skills and talents that you might have
that you can use to be a blessing in our church. God didn’t save you to
just sit in a chair and come to church once a week and do nothing.

God
wants to use you. Maybe he wants to send you like he sent Joseph. Maybe
he wants to use you like he used Moses or Abraham. God wants to use you. God is writing an incredible story with your life.

Are you going to be
used by him to be part of someone else’s story? We have to surrender our
lives to him and say,”God, here I am. Use me. You started something in
me. See it through to completion.

God has made promises and he will not
fail to deliver on those promises. So where’s God leading you today? Yes, we’re all on our way to the promised land, but where is he leading
you along the way? What’s God doing in your life right now? Maybe as you
consider Israel and you see these kind of stages from from birth and
infancy up through teenage years, think about your Christian life, where
are you at in the Christian life?

You know, it begins with Jesus said
being born again. There we are, new new believer or an infant, a
toddler. Are you still there? Are you still in the toddler phase of
being a Christian? or are you taking steps forward to actually grow in
your faith to actually develop and to mature as a follower of Jesus
Christ?

The book of Hebrews in chapter 6 verse one says, “Therefore, let
us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not
laying again a foundation.” And then it lists a whole bunch of things
that are foundational about our faith. Yes, we have an important
foundation. We need to know the basics and you’ll learn those when you
become a Christian. But then we’re to grow and mature. We’re to use our
life for him to serve and to be a blessing.

So where are you at today? What’s the story of your life? How would you describe what God has done
so far? And is there a new chapter right around the corner where God
wants to do something really incredible with you? But you need to make
yourself available to him.

I want to encourage you today to be thinking,
what is my next step? What do I need to do? Maybe I need to start
serving. Maybe I need to get into a small group where I could be around
other people and we can share our stories with each other and encourage
each other. Maybe for you it’s saying, you know what, I actually need to
take the step, be allin and and host a group in my home.

I’m going to
lead a group. Maybe it’s something as simple as that. What is the next
chapter of your story? And how are you going to be used by the Lord? God
in all of this as he kept his promise to Abraham ultimately sees it
through to completion.

And God’s promise to us [snorts] is that Jesus
now he’s coming back again. God has made that clear. God has promised. And now we get to wait for the day of his return. And when he comes
back, are we going to be ready?

Will we have been living our story in
the best way possible for him? Or will our story become about ourselves? What’s your story? Where do you see God at work? And how are you going
to respond to him?

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for the incredible
ways that you work as we read the story of Israel and we’re reminded of
all that you did for them. Lord, we remember that you are the same God
who’s here today and you’re working in our lives. Lord, maybe there’s
some people in the room right now who they don’t know you and maybe
they’re coming to this place of belief. Father, would you strengthen
their faith?

Help them to place their trust in you. Lord, for many of us
who know you, help us, God, to know what our next step might be. That we
would not just plateau and be stuck where we are, but that we would be
intentional and take steps to grow. Help us, Lord, to be used by you in
your story, the story that you are telling. Help us to be faithful
servants like Moses and like Abraham.

We ask in Jesus name. And all
God’s family said, “Amen.” Church family, if you’re here and need prayer
today, the prayer room is open.

I’ll be down front. Love to talk to you. Have a great Sunday.