Calling A Nation

5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, And nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee Because of the Lord thy God, And for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

What would it be like to be limitless?

What would change..

++In my christian walk?

++In my witness?

++In my work?

++If you knew you couldn’t fail?

Everybody knows what it is like

++To be just short

++To not have enough

++To not know enough

Romans 4:18–21 KJV 1900

18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Heroes are marked by there ability to live beyond the limits?

Our answer to this crisis of limitations

++Place it on the human conditions

++To make that life of limitations normal

++Our most noted Heroes have to be alien to the human condition

++They are not quite Human

Even when people do extraordinary things

++They are considered strange

++They are not normal

Aren’t you glad that somebody lives outside the normal?

The Response of Faith

Romans 4:16 KJV 1900

16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

This was the mark of the life of Christ

John 3:1–2 KJV 1900

1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

Nicodemus recognized

++Jesus was greater than He was

++He could learn from Jesus

++Jesus came from God

++What Jesus did was not normal

++God was with him

Jesus was a Man

Galatians 4:4 KJV 1900

4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

Jesus didn’t just show up

++He was ordained for a certain time

++He was born into this world

++He was subject to its ruled

John 9:4 KJV 1900

4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Jesus revealed God’s work

++His work for man

++His work in man

++His work through man

Luke 5:23–25 KJV 1900

23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? 24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. 25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

Why did they have a problem with Jesus’s declaration?

They believed

++Only God can forgive sins

++This was not normal

++Jesus did the unexpected

The Power to forgive

++Was not in his divinity

++Was in his humanity

++Wasn’t easy

Luke 17:4–5 KJV 1900

4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

Help us “Take off the limits”

Matthew 28:18–19 KJV 1900

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

The Great Commission

++Jesus declares His Power

++Jesus imparts His Power

Because of this declaration an impartation

++We have the Liberty to Go

++We have the Responsibility to Go

How do I Go?

Acts 1:8 KJV 1900

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The Power of effectiveness

To Go

++Recognized the power of the Holy Ghost

++Start where you are

++Stand up and be a witness

++Take off the limit

Isaiah 55:5 KJV 1900

5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, And nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee Because of the Lord thy God, And for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

God has called us to be

++A Community Church

++A Global Vision

A Community Church

++Loving Church

++Living Church

++Life Giving Church

A Global Vision

++A Generous Church

++A Giving Church

++A Going Church

Isaiah 55:5 KJV 1900

5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, And nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee Because of the Lord thy God, And for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

It is clear that the scope of what God has called us to do is

Bigger than our perceived capabilities.

We serve an exponential God

God is

++More than enough

++Greater than our perceptions

++Stronger than our capabilities

++Faithful

Mark 16:14–15 KJV 1900

14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:16 KJV 1900

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Our Faith must rise for Nations

Romans 12:2 KJV 1900

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

How can a small church change nations?

Judges 6:11–14 KJV 1900

11 And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 14 And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

Qualities of Gideon

++He was a farmer

++He was afraid

++He wash hiding from the enemy

Have you ever been afraid?

Fear can show itself in many ways.

++Intimidation 2 Tim 1:7

2 Timothy 1:7 KJV 1900

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Fear can show itself in many ways.

Intimidation 2 Tim 1:7

++Inadequacy Judges 6:15

Judges 6:15 KJV 1900

15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

God saw something in Gideon

Judges 6:12 KJV 1900

12 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

Gideon

++The Lord is with you

++You are mighty

++You are a man of valour

Valour

++faculty

++Power

++Strength

++Wealth

++Bravery

Gideon doubted

++That God was with Israel

++That God was at work

Judges 6:13 KJV 1900

13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

Have you ever felt abandon by God?

Gideon saw the God’s judgment

++Unjustified

++Undeserved

++Upon Israel

Judges 6:14 KJV 1900

14 And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

God called Gideon

++In his weakness

++In the midst of his fear

++In his poverty

++To deliver His people

He still call’s one

Though the tasks may be too big for us

It is just the right size for the one that answers the call

Who will answer the call?

Take off the limits

++Fear

++Doubt

++Resources

God is our Source

2 Timothy 1:7 KJV 1900

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Hebrews 12:1 KJV 1900

1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Ecclesiastes 9:11 KJV 1900

11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Go make a difference

++You have time

++You have opportunity

Run your Race

1 Corinthians 9:24 KJV 1900

24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

1 John 4:4 KJV 1900

4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Take Off the Limits

John 5:20 KJV 1900

20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

John 14:12 KJV 1900

12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

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