Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Genesis 12:1-4 (NIV)
The Call of Abram
12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
Matthew 1:1 (NIV)
The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Yesterday’s sermon looked at a key moment in the life of Joseph, when an angel appeared to him, telling him that his fiancé Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Remember the angel’s first words to Joseph: “Do not be afraid …” (Matt 1:20). Throughout the Bible, whenever angels show up, people get scared! Why? Because angels are primarily God’s message-senders (the word “angel” means “messenger”). And the messages we get from angels usually ask us to do something important for God that will make us very uncomfortable. Joseph knew that he would be a social outcast for marrying Mary, because she was already pregnant out of wedlock. Then add to that the pressure of being the step-dad to God’s Son! Tough job! So the angel says “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife”. In other words, “do not be afraid to do what God has asked you to do”.
Today we will compare Joseph’s situation to another famous Bible personality, Abraham. God asked him to do something radical – leave his family and go to a foreign country without knowing which country it was! Abraham obeyed God, and God used Abraham to bless all the world by becoming the fore-father of Jesus. Remember as well that Jesus himself obeyed his heavenly Father, and went off on a strange and difficult journey from heaven to earth, to fulfill God’s plan. In what ways is God calling you to do something for him that is taking you out of your comfort zone? Pray for the faith to be like Joseph and Abraham, and say “yes God!”