Our loyalty to the one living God, our love for the Lord, is being challenged from all sides. The world is seducing us to worship the gods of the people around us. We are surrounded by all kinds of idols. These idols, these other loves and loyalties, try to push God out of the way. They try to overrule God’s rule in our lives.
Read MoreLast week we saw that God’s people attract others to God. We must live such radically different lives that we make others curious about God; so that they ask questions about God; and so that they will come and seek God. We ended with the exciting call that God wants to wear us as his special, treasured clothing for his renown and praise and honor.
Read MoreWhat have we learned so far about being God’s people? We have learned that God’s people are committed to blessing others, walking in the ways of the Lord, doing righteousness and justice. They work for the holistic redemption, liberation, of the oppressed and enslaved.
Read MoreWe are like the zebras. We are God’s treasured possession, his special, peculiar people, different from the world. Last week we learned that as God’s redeemed people we live redemptively by imitating God. We are called to reflect God’s love, grace, forgiveness, justice, salvation, hope, and kingdom.
Read MoreLast week we learned that God’s people are a redeemed people. God freed us from the slavery of evil and sin. We saw that redemption involves the whole of life. All areas of life have been freed from all forms of slavery. All of life are now under God’s rule. Even though we are still in this world, we are no longer citizens of this world.
Read MoreWe are back to our series called, Be Courageous—Living as God’s People in God’s World. So far we have learned that God’s people are created in God’s image. We are called to care for God’s creation. We are called to walk, to live in God’s way. We also learned that God’s people know the story they are part of, and that story is God’s story. Our next stop in God’s story is the Exodus.
Read MoreGod’s people is a blessing to the nations when they keep, that is, walk, live in God’s way. John Stott said that “the greatest hindrance to the advance of the gospel worldwide is the failure of God’s people to live like God’s people.” When God’s people are no different from the world, when we walk in the ways of the world, we cannot be a blessing to the nations.
Read MoreToday we fast forward the story from creation to the call of Abraham. But to understand this extraordinary call, we must see Abraham’s call within the context of the whole story. So let’s make a quick tour of what happened in Genesis 3 to 11.
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