Welcome to Big Valley Grace Community Church — super glad you’re here. If it’s your first time, welcome; I think today is going to be a really great day for you. We’re looking at real people in history, how God worked in their lives, and how we can understand how God wants to work in our lives. And you just got baptized right here — congratulations! It’s always awesome to see somebody baptized, because it’s a public profession, letting everyone know they’re following Jesus Christ. If you have a Bible, turn to Genesis 12. If you need a Bible, we want to give you one today; come to the prayer room after the gathering — there will be a team to pray for you, and we also have Bibles there, because we want everyone to have a copy of God’s word for themselves.

I want to share what we’re going to do before we do it. We’re going to be in Genesis 12, looking at the first four verses. I’ll read through it and then break it into four sections, and when we’re done, someone in our church will come give a live testimony of what God has done in their life as it relates to those four sections. Then we’ll have an opportunity to pray for anyone here who needs courage and boldness to do the thing God is calling you to do. So let me begin by praying. Father God, thank you for your word; may your word be the loudest voice in the room. We need you to stir in us; we need your Holy Spirit to be at work. Thank you for the testimony of baptism today and for the opportunity to worship you. I pray for the new person here for the first time — would you help them understand what you want for their life and speak to them? All of us came into this room with things going on — family, health, finances, planning, schedules, jobs — things weighing on us. Would you speak to each of us directly where we are, so we might understand what you’re doing in our lives right now? I pray this in Jesus’ name, and all God’s family said, “Amen.”

In Genesis 12 we have an occurrence of two biblical, historical characters — real people whose names are Abram and Sarai, whom you may know as Abraham and Sarah, the names they are given later in the story. Their history starts at the end of Genesis 11, and if you read from there and just keep reading for a very long time, you’ll understand that the story of Abraham and Sarah is a huge one. We’re not doing a comprehensive look at their lives today; we’re just looking at the starting point, the beginning of their history with God — because that starting point is so powerful, and it informs the entire rest of their lives. Genesis 12:1–4 says: “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.” We’re going to see what this meant for Abram and Sarai, ask what it might mean for us, and then look at how Jesus spoke to his disciples to see how it all comes together. We’ll look at this passage through four questions.

The first question is this: what if God told you to go from what you know to where he will show? What if God asked you to move out of the place where you feel comfortable — because it’s your place and you understand it — and go to a place that is not your place, that you don’t understand, and that you would discover only when you actually got there? Because that is exactly what God asked Abram and Sarai to do. Verse 1 says, “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” From the context, this account is way before the time of Jesus — in fact, way before the nation of Israel, because God is talking to Israel’s grandpa. So when he says “go from your country,” he’s not saying go from the nation of Israel; Israel doesn’t exist yet. He’s saying go from the country you live in. Go from your kindred — your community, the people you know and spend time with. Go from your father’s house — your residence. Go to a land that Abram doesn’t know, that Sarah doesn’t know. They don’t know anything about this land; they’ve never been there. And “to the land that I will show you” means they will not even understand what they’re being called into until they get there. What if God did that to you?

Let me give you some examples. What if God said, “Go from your residence to the residence I will show you”? It was a little over a year ago that God asked me to do this, and I was absolutely dead set against moving my residence — I did not want to move. But God did something in my heart to help me understand I needed to take action to move my family where we lived for the purpose of serving my family best. I moved my residence, and God showed me the residence he wanted me to move to. What if God said, “Go from your job to the job that he will show you”? Many years ago, I had a job I liked — I worked for a mechanical engineering firm designing fire sprinkler systems, and the last job I did for that company was the seven-story tower at Memorial Hospital. But one day at work, the phone rang, and it was a pastor who wanted to meet with me and my wife. I thought, “This can’t be good” — because when the pastor calls and wants to meet with you and your wife, you figure you’ve done something wrong. And what I found out in that meeting was that God had a different job for me. I liked the job I had; I didn’t know God was going to ask me to do a different one — it was a job he was going to show me.

What if God told you to go from your budget to the budget that he will show you? In 2016 and 2017, God radically flipped the finances of my family upside down, redefining how we were going to handle our finances and giving us a new way to look at finances and do our budget — because he had a budget he wanted to show us. What if God told you to go from your schedule to the schedule that he will show you? I’m a person of rhythm and routine, and I don’t want anybody messing with my schedule — but God continues to mess with my schedule over and over, asking me to do things that cause me to change it. What if God told you to go from your habits to the habits that he will show you? Some habits are clearly bad and hurting us, and those are easy to identify. But what if God has some habits he wants us to change that we wouldn’t call bad habits — they’re just not the habits God has for us? In February and March, I asked God to help me build a habit for sixty days: to strengthen a routine where my morning time would be for God. There were two things I did every morning — I looked at what I valued as a person, and I asked God to show me the scripture he had for me as a person. I asked God to help me strengthen the habit of giving my morning to him.

What if God told you to go from your relationships to the relationships that he would show you? When I started telling people I was a follower of Jesus, I found out I had fewer conversations with them. When I told people I worked at a church, I found out I didn’t get invited to things anymore. What if God told you to go from your ministry to the ministry that he would show you? In 2019, I had the great privilege, along with many of you, of launching our Sierra campus — I liked that ministry; it was exciting and awesome to be part of it. Then in 2020 came the government shutdown, and the Sierra campus met in a government building, so we had to close it, and my ministry changed. God gave me a different ministry. I liked the one I had, but God had a different one for me — and I had no idea until he showed me. What if God told you to go from your priorities to the priorities that God would show you? My top five priorities used to be me, me, me, me, and me — I made the top five of my own list. And God said, “You’re not going to be your priority anymore. I’m going to give you my priorities for your life.” What if God said to go from your way of life to the way of life that God would show you? I had a direction, a plan, and a way of doing things that I liked — and God changed the direction of my life, the plan for my life, and the way I had to live my life, because he had something way different, and he showed it.

So what if God showed up in your life and told you to go from what you know to where he will show? Isn’t that essentially the point of the first words Jesus said to his disciples: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”? You’re doing what you’re doing, but I need you to change what you’re doing and follow me. You’re fishers of fish, but I need you no longer to be fishers of fish, because I need you to be fishers of people. It’s the same story throughout our entire Bible: God shows up in people’s lives and tells them to go from what they know to where he will show.

Number two: what if God told you to change so that others receive the benefit? What if God wants your life to be different than it is right now — and the reason is that the person next to you actually needs your life to be different? This is what he says to Abram: “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” God shows up in Abram’s life and tells him he’s going to change. He says, “I’m going to make of you a great nation” — Abram has no idea what that means. “I’m going to make your name great” — Abram’s name wasn’t great; he wasn’t a great nation. And God says, “I’m going to make of you something so that you will be a blessing.” It wasn’t even for Abram; it was for him to bless other people. He was going to receive a blessing for the purpose of sharing that blessing. It was for other people.

So what if God showed up in your life? What if God said, “Change the desires of your heart so that others receive the benefit”? My heart longs for things; I have desires and things I want to chase after. What if God says, “The things you long for and chase after are not the things I want for you. I want you to want something different, to long for something different — because the person next to you needs your desires to be different”? What if God said, “Change the emotions of your soul so that others receive the benefit”? We all have emotions — some of us express them outwardly and some of us pretend we don’t have them — but we all have emotions deep in our soul. What if God said, “You’re operating from a certain set of emotions, but I need you to operate from a different set, because the people next to you need you to”? What if God said, “Change the thoughts of your mind so that others receive the benefit”? What do you think about when you’re not thinking about anything? It’s a bit of a trick question, but our minds all wander; they go somewhere even when we’re not trying to think about a subject. What if God said, “I want to replace the set of thoughts you currently operate out of with a different set, because I need you to think differently so the person next to you benefits”? What if God said, “Change the actions of your strength so that others would receive the benefit”? We all have a body, and we make decisions constantly with what we do with it — our actions, our personal will. What if God said, “This is the way you currently act, but I need you to choose to act differently with your body, your will, your strength, so that the person next to you receives the benefit”?

Isn’t that essentially the point when Jesus quotes the Old Testament: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And the second is this: you shall love your neighbor as yourself”? Isn’t that Jesus saying, “I need you to change so that other people receive the benefit. I need your heart, soul, mind, and strength moved toward the love of God, so that when you are focused on the love of God, your life can be used to love the person next to you”?

Number three: what if God told you that his plan to bring gain would cause you to experience loss? This seems counterproductive — if the point is that I receive gain, why would I receive loss? But look at what God says to Abram in verse 3: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This verse starts with blessing and ends with blessing — but what’s in the middle? You will be dishonored. God is telling him, “You will be dishonored.” He’s hearing for the first time that God wants him to leave what he knows — his country, his kindred, his father’s house — and go to a place he doesn’t even know; that he will be made into a great nation; that his name will be great; and in the same message, that there is a group of people who will dishonor him. God says, “Those who dishonor you, I will curse,” and then, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Abram has no context for what God is talking about — but we have our Bible, so we know the end of the story. This is pointing to Jesus: that in Jesus, every person has the opportunity to come to know God through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. So God shows up in Abram’s life and says his plan to bring gain would actually cause him to experience loss.

What would that look like in your life? What if God’s plan to bring gain might cause you to lose relationships? Let me let you in on a little secret: every time I step onto this stage, open God’s word, and teach it on a weekend, I give people a reason to not like me — and then they let me know. What if God’s plan to bring gain might cause you to lose resources? Salvation is a free gift; God has paid for it through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and the blood of Jesus Christ is the sufficient payment for the debt of our sin. Salvation is a free gift in Jesus Christ — but following Jesus as a saved person is a life of sacrifice. It has a high cost; it is costly to follow Jesus Christ. What if God’s plan to bring gain might cause you to lose rest? We see that even Jesus, in doing the perfect will of the Father, got tired and weary — and doing the Father’s perfect will led him to the cross. In following God, there are moments when you’re tired and exhausted and God asks you to do something, and it costs you sleep.

Listen to what Jesus said — he was very blunt about this: “If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.” What if God told you that his plan to bring gain would cause you to experience loss?

Question number four: what if God told you — and you obeyed? What if God told you some of these things and you actually did it? Verse 4 says, “So Abram went, as the Lord told him.” And I know what you’re thinking, because it’s the same thing I’m thinking: of course he went, because he’s Abraham — the famous guy from the Bible, father Abraham with many sons. Okay, if that’s how you think, let me tell you what you’re going to find when you open your Bible to Genesis 11 and keep reading for a very long time. You’ll find out that Abram went as the Lord told him — and experienced famine. Abram went as the Lord told him — and lied about his wife. Abram went as the Lord told him — and was kicked out of Egypt. Abram went as the Lord had told him — and had a family dispute. Abram went as the Lord had told him — and had to rescue his family after they were captured by the enemy. Abram went as the Lord had told him — and questioned God’s promise. Abram went as the Lord had told him — and eventually believed God, as we see at the beginning of chapter 15. But even at the moment it says he believed God, if you keep reading past chapter 15, you’ll find it wasn’t all good — he still struggled and still had hard moments. Jesus never promised that following him would make your life easy; in fact, he said the opposite: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” What if God told you — and you obeyed?

So: what if God told you to go from what you know to where he will show? What if God told you to change so that others would receive the benefit? What if God told you that his plan to bring gain would cause you to experience loss? And what if God told you — and you obeyed? Now, before we go any further, we have the opportunity to hear a live testimony from someone in our church, and I’m really excited about this moment. I’d like you to help give a big Big Valley Grace warm welcome to my wife, Sarah.

My name is Sarah Boon, and I’m a grateful believer in Jesus Christ. I am super thankful for how God has blessed my life. What I’m going to share today is in response to the four questions we just heard — a small part of my real story as a real person really trying to follow God in obedience. So: what if God told you to go from what you know to where he will show? For many years, God had placed adoption on my heart, but it wasn’t until 2009 that I said yes. That three-letter word would change the trajectory of my life and my family forever. I knew what it was like to find out I was pregnant, to hear the words “It’s a boy,” to carry my sons for nine months in my womb and prepare for them. I knew what it was like to give birth and to hold my sons for the very first time the moment they entered this world. I knew what it was like to be a mom from day one. My yes began what God wanted to show me. In 2009, I became a mom to an almost three-year-old girl. In 2013, I became a mom to a twelve-month-old girl. And then in 2017, I became a mom to three children simultaneously — a three-month-old girl, a six-year-old boy, and an almost fourteen-year-old boy. God planned to show me how to be a mom to a child that wasn’t a boy; a child for whom I didn’t have nine months to prepare or carry in my womb; a child who came into my life after they had experienced many days, months, and years without me; a child raised for parts of their life by another mom; a child who had experienced incredible trauma. I had one child whom I would never get the opportunity to pick up and hold. God desired to show me his journey from what I knew — a mom of three boys — to a mom of six boys and three girls. This yes would also impact going from the job I knew, the budget I knew, the schedule I knew, the habits I knew, the relationships I knew, the ministry I knew, the priorities I knew, and the way of life I knew — to that which God wanted to show me.

What if God told you to change so that others receive the benefit? Over these past sixteen years, God has changed me — the desires of my heart, the emotions of my soul, the thoughts of my mind, and the actions of my strength — so that my home could be a safe and loving place for my nine children to experience family. I had to change my desire to have a home that was neat, organized, and always in order. I had to change the emotions of my soul that prepping all our meals made me a good mom, to choosing Costco’s pre-made dinners on paper plates. I had to change my thoughts that my home had become a never-ending summer camp. And I had to change the actions of my strength and cling to 2 Corinthians 12:9 — the verse that filled our family chalkboard for many, many months: “His grace is sufficient for me, and his power is made perfect in my weaknesses.”

What if God told you that his plan to bring gain would cause you to experience loss? God’s plan for me to be a mom to nine children has, absolutely, with no hesitation and complete confidence, been a gain in my life — I am definitely a mama bear. But I would be lying if I said it hasn’t come with loss. I lost relationships. One of my closest friends, after we became a family of eleven, told me she could no longer be part of my family’s life because she did not feel her children would be safe with my children, because of their backgrounds and experienced trauma. I lost another friend because I wasn’t present or available enough for her and our friendship when our family grew by three overnight. God’s plan to bring gain also brought loss of resource — the intensity and responsibility to raise, meet the needs of, and provide opportunity for extracurricular activities for nine children between the ages of three months and sixteen (now seven to twenty-three) requires significant resource. God’s plan to bring gain also brought loss to my rest. One of my children told me, “No matter what time I go to bed, you’re awake. No matter what time I get up, you’re awake. Do you ever sleep?” I lost sleep prepping meals, packing lunches, doing laundry, cleaning house, correcting homework. But the nights where I lost the most sleep were the nights before biological family visits, court dates, and teenage and young adult conversations. I have also lost the status of becoming an empty nester, because my youngest daughter has fetal alcohol syndrome and autism — she will live with us forever; wherever we go, she goes. I’ve lost rest, wrestling with fear about who will take care of her when I’m gone, crying to God that she needs me, so please keep me alive. I’ve lost time and relationship with my oldest daughter, because the trauma she experienced as a young child was so significant that she has needed intensive therapeutic care outside of our home. And then, for a couple of years, I lost myself, because the weight, hurt, and brokenness were so great that I was not able to be the wife, mom, and person God had intended me to be.

So what if God told you — and you obeyed? If God had told me all that my yes would bring into my life, I would have said, “There’s no way, God — I’m incapable. The pain and grief are too much for my kids and my family.” But he has been faithful, and he has given me strength each day. His mercies are new every morning, along with his grace and forgiveness for all my numerous mistakes and failures. Every court date, weekly visit, late-night teenage and young adult conversation, uncertainty, sleepless night, chaos, use of resources, fear, grief, pain, lies, loss of relationship, and tears — weaved through my highest of highs and lowest of lows as a mom — have been worth it. God chose me to give birth to four boys: Gavin, Merrick, Isaac, and Ken. God chose me to be a foster mom to Savannah for 887 days before adopting her. God chose me to be a foster mom to Katie for 671 days before adopting her. God chose me to be a foster mom to Gia for 581 days before adopting her. And then God called me to be a foster mom to Angel and Julian for 1,190 days before adopting them. God has made me a mom to nine children. And when people ask, “Which kids are yours?” I smile and respond with absolute joy: “All nine kids are mine.” I stand before you today as a work in progress — a real person with a real story, really trying to follow in obedience to God. I am a better wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, and person because I said yes.

Babe, I’m super proud of you — you were totally just the prettiest person on stage. I’m thankful that my wife had the bravery and courage to do that, so that we as a church family could hear some of her story. My question to you — my last question — is this: if your next action was in obedience to God, what would you do? I want you to actually answer the question right now. I don’t need you to answer out loud; it doesn’t matter if I hear your answer or the person next to you hears it. But it does matter that God knows what your answer is, and that you know what your answer is. So, if your next action was in obedience to God, what would you do? Answer that question right now.

Now that you have an answer: if the answer you came up with is scary and frightening, and you could use a little bravery, a little encouragement, a little boldness, and a little prayer that you would actually do it — because the action you just identified has you scared, and you need your church family to pray for you right now — I want to challenge you to stand up, because that’s what we’re going to do. If you’re here and you’ve identified an action step that God wants you to take so you can be obedient to him, and you need some courage, some bravery, some boldness — if it seems like something you can’t do on your own, but you know it would be the right thing to do because you know you’d be being obedient to God — stand up right now, and we’re going to pray for you. Father God, I thank you for those standing — brothers and sisters who are identifying that there is something you want them to do, some action step you have for them so they can be obedient to you. No one else knows what it is; they’re the only ones who know, and you know, and it’s just between you and them — but they know it. They’re asking for prayer, for courage, for boldness, for bravery, that they might actually do it — not just think about the action step, but actually do it. God, we pray blessing over all our brothers and sisters standing right now: strengthen them to be able to move toward where you are calling them to move, to go where you show. And we ask that you would bless them in the name of Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and Savior. And all God’s family said, “Amen.”