Part 1 - Genesis 18:1-33 - THE POWER OF ONE SMALL STEP

Part 1 - Genesis 18:1-33 – THE POWER OF ONE SMALL STEP

As a boy he was active in the Boy Scouts, and had earned the rank of Eagle Scout. He was only the second person in his family to attend college. In 1950, a week after his 20th birthday, he became a Naval Aviator and then later an ASTRONAUT.

Watching television as the dramatic pictures were broadcast to the world, I was aware that something momentous had happened and I have never forgotten the images of that man. I was 14 years old.

NEIL ARMSTRONG and his crew touched down at 20:17:39 UTC on July 20, 1969. On Television that day my family and I saw Armstrong walk down the ladder and STEP OUT onto the surface of the moon. We all remembered those famous words, "THAT'S ONE SMALL STEP FOR (A) MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND."

That Christmas I had taken a momentous step myself as I gave my life to Christ. It was not a lunar landing, and it only seemed like ONE SMALL STEP, but it CHANGED MY LIFE from that moment on.

It is just like God to do this. He knows I am only able to receive His plan for my life in “ONE-SMALL-STEP-FOR-A-MAN” pieces. One small step in the direction He says to go is lifechanging.

Genesis 18:1 (NLT) says, “The Lord appeared again to Abraham …Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day.”

Was Abraham praying as he sat at the entrance to his tent that day? It doesn’t say but I’d like to think that he was. Wouldn’t you be praying if you were 100 years old and Sarah, your wife, is 90 and God had given you AN IMPOSSIBLE PLAN?

In Genesis 12 God gives Him the BIG PICTURE PLAN and points him to the stars. He was to STEP OUT IN FAITH, he was blessed to be a blessing. Later in Genesis 15:4 the Lord gets very specific. The impossibility of what God said that day was MINDBLOWING enough for Abraham to believe. Now the Lord appears to him again and confirms this plan with Sarah, who will also need to be an active participant and CO-PILOT in all this.

It’s not all that unusual that an old man would sit at the entrance to his home, but the point is that it is often in THE STILL MOMENTS that I am more aware that God is there to speak to me about my hopes and dreams. He wants me to serve Him and develop my relationship with Him and there will be times when He will accomplish in my life what I consider to be IMPOSSIBLE.

How did God appear to Abraham? What strikes me is that He didn’t appear a BLAZE OF HIS GLORY that knocked Abraham to the ground, like He did with Paul? (Acts 9:3-5). God can turn up in your life in so many different ways –, A BURNING BUSH to Moses (Exodus 3:2), a PILLAR OF CLOUD by day and PILLAR OF FIRE by night to the Israelites (Exodus 13:21), A GENTLE WHISPER like He did with Elijah (1 Kings 19:11-13). In whatever way He chooses to appear, the most gracious of all seems to be when He turns up as A HUMAN BEING, walking in the garden like He did with Adam (Genesis 3:8) and as a baby in Bethlehem as He did with Joseph and Mary (Matthew 1:21, Galatians 4:4). What I love about God is that HE TURNS UP in ways that will have a profound impact upon my life and yet it is so personal. Abraham had already been CHANGED FOREVER from the moment God spoke with him and he took ONE SMALL STEP for a man, but ONE GIANT LEAP for mankind.

God bless you Church as the Lord continues to make Himself known to you in ways that profoundly change your life, as He points you to the stars and invites you to take one small step.

Pastor Ross

Part 8 - Matthew 11:25-30 - WITHOUT THE ENCUMBRANCE OF GENIUS

Part 8 – Matthew 11:25-30 – WITHOUT THE ENCUMBRANCE OF GENIUS

Perhaps it is the reason that I embraced Christianity so easily was that the Christian faith doesn’t demand intelligence. I have an above average intelligence level. Well, actually, although it was above average according to the IQ test I completed at School, it was more tilted towards the average side than the above part. I have imagined having an intelligence level that would ASTOUND people, but unless that miracle happens I will remain who I am, without the ENCUMBRANCE OF GENIUS and I will always have to examine things carefully before I can understand them.

Jesus prayed an unusual prayer in Matthew 11:25-27. After the cities of Korazin and Bethsaida had ignored Him and rejected Him, He prayed

“O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank You for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased You to do it this way!”

Jesus says that only the childlike can understand spiritual things. He doesn’t say childish, just childlike. I must admit I can have a little trouble with distinguishing between the two at times, but I do recognise God as my Father and I know that I am in His family.

Some time ago I received a number of pocket sized Gideons Bibles with white covers to give out to the staff and residents of Shalom. Shalom is an Aged Care Facility and I work there as a Chaplain. These small New Testament Bibles are given out in Schools in Australia every few years by the Gideons. Someone gave some to us.

As I offered the aged residents of Shalom these Bibles it occurred to me that I needed to ask them whether they could read the SMALL PRINT. Few of them could. People in their 80’s and 90’s don’t often have very good eyesight for reading normal print books, let alone the pocket sized version I was handing out. It was an EXERCISE IN FUTILITY. They were literally BLIND TO GOD’S TRUTH. The only Bible many of them have now is me. Anyone want to donate some large print pocket Bibles that I can give away?

Jesus talks of a different kind of BLINDNESS. Blind due to my INDIFFERENCE to His miracles and message. Blind to His will and purposes in my life. Blind to a relationship with God because of my self sufficient attitudes.

2 Corinthians 3:14 (NLT) says “the people’s minds were HARDENED,” It is like a veil over their thinking “so they CANNOT UNDERSTAND the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.” Ephesians 4:18 describes it as having their “UNDERSTANDING DARKENED, being alienated from the life of God”

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NLT) says that it is Satan who “has BLINDED THE MINDS of those who don’t believe. They are UNABLE TO SEE the glorious light of the Good News. They DON’T UNDERSTAND this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:14 (NLT) puts it this way “But people who aren’t spiritual CAN’T RECEIVE THESE TRUTHS from God’s Spirit. It all sounds FOOLISH to them and they CAN’T UNDERSTAND it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.”

Jesus makes it clear that the only way to understand God is through Him. He says “No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” (Matthew 11:27 NLT)

Now that’s AUTHORITY! Jesus stands as the ONLY MEDIATOR between me and God. (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus does the choosing and He has chosen to reveal the Father only to those who believe and come under His authority.

In John 14:6 (NLT) Jesus said,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. NO ONE can come to the Father EXCEPT THROUGH ME. Acts 4:12 (NLT) says “There is salvation in NO ONE ELSE! God has given NO OTHER NAME under heaven by which we must be saved.”

The only access I have to truth is to COME TO HIM and the key is faith not intelligence. It is CHILDLIKE FAITH, not genius. It is not being self sufficient but humble enough to be DEPENDENT upon Him. Nothing wrong with intelligence. I need a brain to think through these things but knowing God is not dependent upon intelligence. It demands coming under the authority of Jesus Christ.

I love the way 1 Corinthians 1:25-29 (NLT) puts it “This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans… Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes … when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. … and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.”

God bless you Church as you exercise the foolishness today of believing in Christ and coming under His authority for your life, WITHOUT THE ENCUMBRANCE OF YOUR GENIUS. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Pastor Ross