Tuesday, May 23, 2006, Part Two
"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8).
IDEA: You're not the person you used to be, therefore you can never handle life as you used to handle it.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that when God calls us to something, he also calls us away from something.
Did Abraham simply leave Ur of the Chaldees?
Did it ever seem strange to you that Jesus called his disciples to follow him and they did?
"As [Jesus] walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." They immediately left their nets and followed Him. When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him" (Mark 1:16-20).
What startles you about that, if anything?
I. When Jesus called his disciples, some of them were fishermen. So what?
Were they fishing for recreation?
Suppose the disciples wanted to hang onto their business of fishing or collecting taxes, or hold onto the old way of doing things. Could they have followed Jesus?
Do you think the disciples had a choice?
Do you think that Abraham could have followed God and stayed in Ur of Chaldees?
When God calls us to something, He also calls us away from something else.
We are called from the old life and the old way of handling it to a new life.
Do you think He calls us away from old securities to new securities? Is that easy?
II. When Christians practice believer's baptism, what does that ritual say about them (Romans 6)?
It says that we died to the old life and are made alive to a new life.
Do you think that really happens or it's something we just pretend happened?
The call of Abraham, the call of the disciples, the call to us involves a profound truth: You're not the person you used to be; therefore you can never handle life as you used to handle it. We are new people in Christ.