And in our worship service too!!

Before the Throne of God Above Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea A great high priest whose name is love Who ever lives and pleads for me

My name is graven on His hands My name is written on His heart I know that while in heaven He stands No tongue can bid me thence depart

When satan tempts me to despair And tells me of the guilt within Upward I look and see Him there Who made an end to all my sin

Because the sinless Savior died My sinful soul is counted free For God the just is satisfied To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there the risen Lamb My perfect spotless righteousness The great unchangeable I AM The King of glory and of grace

One with Himself I cannot die My soul is purchased by His blood My life is hid with Christ on high With Christ my Savior and my God ***

The Curtain Opens  Man has made a mess of his own history by rejecting God and suffering the consequences.  But in Genesis 12, God starts with a brand new cast, and brings to the world stage His incredible plan.  Shifts from the whole world to four individuals

Scene One  God turns from the human race to a single man--Abraham  Would you do what God did?  God delights in using people to work His plan through them.  Whenever God desires to do something, He will look for a human being!

2 Chronicles 16.9a  For the eyes of the L ORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.

God’s Constitution for the Recovery of Man  Genesis 12:1-3  All the rest of Scripture and God’s activity is tied to these promises.  How is making a new nation going to help in redeeming man from God’s wrath against sin?

Isaiah 55:8  For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.  We must trust that God will reveal how Genesis 12:1-3 moves us toward His greater glory and our rescue.  When Jehovah says, "I will", He is really saying:  "This is what I am going to do; be sure of it!"

God’s working is miraculous  Do you see the wonder here?  Abraham is one man  A very old man  The husband of a wife who is...barren.  Would you begin to build a nation this way, through this man?

Why does God work this way?  God alone is going to “get ‘r done.”  Perhaps it is so no one else can take the credit for what gets done.  He calls on us to live by faith so we can watch Him work and give Him glory.

Why God operates as He does  From beginning to ending,  the building of Abraham’s nation  and His working in our lives  will be His undertaking.  The participants are required to live by faith.