Today I've been preparing my sermon for Sunday. I work on a year at a time to determine where I am leading the church, but then each week I decide on Wednesday how much of the big picture I will unveil. On Saturday I nail my message down and add illustrations and an application. My message for this week is a huge concept-- We're opening up the invisible realm to peek inside and see the things that God is planning for the Church. Wow! I'm overwhelmed!
The thought that came to me which I'll use in my introduction was the scene when Jesus and Abraham were talking about God's plans for his future family. All Abraham could see was that he had no son. In his mind he was asking, "How can God even suggest that He has plans for my family when my wife can't even give me a child!" That was as far as he could see.
Jesus was not frustrated by Abraham's short-sightedness. He simply took him outside and told him to look at the stars. At that time Abe would have seen about 5000 stars with his naked eyes (no pollution!) Jesus said to him "Your spiritual descendants will be as many as the stars of the heavens!" Abraham must have said "Wow, I was thinking far too small, but now I understand!"
Wrong Abraham! He may have seen 5000 stars but the fact was that there are at least 3 thousand, million, billion stars. (That's a 3 with 16 zeroes) Like Father Abraham, we think we've got a picture of what life is all about, but we way under-estimate the dimensions of God's plans. As Paul wrote "Eyes have not seen nor has ear heard the things that God has prepared for those who love Him." Now do you see the dilemma that I face tomorrow as I attempt to pull back the veil on God's plans for us? It's going to be a fun challenge.
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