Genesis 15:1-6 "After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.  And Abram said, Lord God , what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?  And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.  And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord ; and he counted it to him for righteousness."

We look at Abram, or Abraham as he is commonly known, as being the father of the Jewish nation, and truly he was.  But there is something deeper in Abram and I want to give you a couple of things I observed while studying the Scripture.

In Genesis 12 God told Abram to remove himself from his father's house and go into a land where God would lead him.  It would take great courage and faith to walk away from everything you had and go to a strange land, but Abram did it!  He packed up his wife and family and left everything behind except for his dire needs.

Reading through Genesis 12-15 I read where Abram always did what God asked of him.  God also knew that it was in Abram's power to do as He asked of him.  The point I want to make is a serious one; with all faith and courage that Abram had, he was just like you and me, flesh and bones.  God reminded Abram of a covenant that would make Abram father of many nations, if he would only follow Him (God).  God told Abram that his seed would number as the sand on the seashore and as the stars in the sky.  At the age of ninety-nine years, I'm sure Abram though, "Yeah, right, God!"  How can this be, seeing I have no heir in my family?"

People say you should never question God.  I remember a time during our daughter Ashley's illness on a Sunday morning.  I was ironing some clothes getting ready for church, when it hit me -- I said, "God, why?"  I was looking for an answer.  But, you know, God was not obligated to give me an answer and He didn't.  But I like what Genesis 15:1 says, "I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward."  Child of God, let me remind you that God is not only your protector; He is your provider.  Just as Abram, there are things in our lives we are not able to fix under our own power.  Sometimes we learn lessons easily and other times we learn them the hard way.

Lisa and I prayed and prayed for Ashley's healing, but God chose to go in an entirely different manner than we were praying for.  As much as I wanted to heal my daughter, I could not.  If love could have healed her, she would have been up walking the first day of her sickness.

Some of you sitting here today are in need of help from God.  There are things happening in your life you cannot handle by yourself.  You may ask, "Preacher, how do you get help when you need it?"  Praise God, if you believe in the Lord God Almighty, He is the one who has the power to give you the help you may desperately need.  I want to give examples of some of those sitting in the congregation who could not handle the situation on their own power:

• You have love ones you have prayed and prayed and prayed for them to receive God into their lives and nothing seems to move them in that direction.  If love would save them, there would not be one person in our families lost.  Right, church?  There would be nobody going to Hell.  If it were only that easy, but we know that it is not within our power to control the salvation of others.

• There are those of you going through sickness.  You are going through surgeries; you're fighting cancer and other diseases.  These are things out of our hands.

• Sitting here this morning is a dear man who buried his wife a few months ago leaving him very lonely.  If love could have kept her here, she would be with him this morning.

Abram believed in the Lord and it was counted unto him as righteousness.  What you can't do for yourself, God will do for you.  It would do us well to remember that there are some things we cannot do.  Believing in the Lord was credited to Abram's account.  In the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, there is a doctrine referred to as justification.  It simply means that our faith in God's Son, Jesus Christ, is credited to our account by God.  Not that we deserve it; not that we can earn it; and not that we are worthy to receive it; but because God is gracious and full of love and tender mercy, our faith in Christ is sufficient to have the righteousness of Christ accredited to our account.

How many people know that, if you let it, your past can have an impact on your serving God today?  I was talking to a good brother the other day, and he said to me, "Oh, I carry this heavy guilt around with me all the time.  Every time I start to feel good about things, the devil reminds me of my guilt from the past."  Church, it can be that way for us all if we let it.  You get to going well; the birds start to sing again, and suddenly the devil will reel you back.  "Ah, you're not as good as you think you are.  Look what you did back there in 1975."  But you know what!  What God forgives, God forgets.  So if God forgets it, why do we continue to beat ourselves up still remembering it?  We don't have to continue to ask forgiveness from God for the same crime we committed back in 1979.  One time is sufficient.  Our account is already settled and paid for. 

The other day Lisa and I went to Slo's Restaurant to eat lunch.  When we got ready to leave, I asked for the ticket and the waitress said, "It's already paid for; someone else paid for your lunch."  I said, "Well, praise the Lord.  I'll come back next week for another meal."  That's how it is with God -- It's already paid for.

The sense of feeling unworthy will keep you out of heaven.  I've heard this said so many times it makes me sick to hear it again.  I will ask someone, "Are you a Christian?"  They answer with, "Naw, I wouldn't say I'm a Christian."  I ask, "What are you waiting for?"  They answer with, "Well, Preacher, I'm waiting until I get my life straightened up."  It that's the case, they will never get their life straightened up enough.  If that were true, Jesus would not have had to die on the cross in the first place.

There are things you cannot take care of yourself and your salvation is one of them.  You can never take care of it by yourself.  Paid in Full -- Signed by Jesus.  It means our sins have been covered by the blood.  To believe in God, and in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, is accounted unto us for God's righteousness.

Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.  Galatians 3:6-7

So that they which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.  Galatians 3:9

You cannot wander so far away that God won't come to you when you call out to Him.  You cannot make a mess that God won't or can't clean up.  The glorious thing about this message is that it's so simple.  It's called faith.  Believe in God with all your heart and soul.

Pastor Earnest Fields, Jr.
August 31, 2008