Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ our Lord,
This Lord’s Day our journey into the calling and life of Abraham will continue. You will remember that we are exploring four significant Biblical themes that are evident in his story: 1) Election, 2) God’s Effectual Word of Promise, 3) The Response of Faith and Obedience, and 4) Faith Tested by Trial. This Sunday we will focus our attention on the second and third themes of God’s Word of Promise and the Response of Faith. Our primary text for the sermon will be Genesis 15:1-6. In this passage we will discover both the power of God’s spoken Word and the response the Word brings about in the human heart.
It might surprise you to know that Genesis 1:6 is the very first place the word “believed” (the same form of the terms ‘believe’ and ‘faith’) occurs in Holy Scripture. Overall “believed” is found some 259 times in the Bible and 81 times in the Gospel of John alone! Obviously, it is a most important term and one that must be defined with appropriate precision. I say this because it is so very easy to think of faith or belief as something entirely subjective and expressive only of strong feelings, hunches, or hopes. For example, I might say that ‘I believe the Seattle Seahawks will win the Super Bowl,’ or that ‘I believe today is going to be a good day.’ However, this is not how the word “believed” is deployed in the Bible. It’s a much deeper word than this, and we will see how it finds profound expression and illustration in the story of Abraham’s life.
As you spend time in prayer and preparation for our Lord’s Day worship, let your minds reflect upon Romans 4:1-25 and Hebrews 11:8-12.
I love you all so very much, and I always have you in my every prayer!
Mike