There is a ‘coming to Jesus’ moment that many of us have experienced in days gone by. And then...there is a...’coming to Jesus’ encounter that forever changes the trajectory of your life. I know that may be confusing to some...but if/when it happens to you, you’ll know what I’m talking about, trust me.

It’s not like we haven’t seen that before in the Bible. Moses is the first one who comes to mind, for me at least. Born as a Hebrew, he was raised in the home of Pharaoh’s daughter but certainly knew where his heritage lay. And at the age of 40, he stepped up to ‘help’ a fellow Hebrew out until that blew up in his face and off to the backside of the desert he goes for forty years (Ex. 2)

Then there was Peter who showed great signs of zeal and devotion, as he too...stepped up to ‘help’ Jesus out with his own sword, after vowing to ‘die for Jesus’. But within hours ...Peter would be denying to a crowd of strangers that he even knew Jesus. And let’s not forget Saul, a devoted Pharisee and teacher of the law who was consumed with zeal as he tried to squash this ‘Christian uprising’ by imprisoning ...and even having new believers put to death. Unfortunately, his zeal for God was misguided; it can happen to the best of us.

Then Saul/Paul had a genuine ‘come to Jesus moment’ on his way to Damascus (Acts 9).

Moses’s life changing encounter took place in front of a burning bush; and Peter...after his dismal display of devotion...was sought out by Jesus Himself back where Peter first encountered Jesus...while having another bad day of fishing on the water. (John 21). Let’s be honest here...some of us are just slow learners. But...when the ‘light comes on’ you can be sure a new day has dawned. And that is what the Spirit of the Lord is wanting to do in this day and hour for so many who have crashed and burned along the way. (Yesterday’s message)

I’m not sure if you picked up on that small detail that all three of those men shared, but they were all genuinely trying to ‘help’ God out in their sincere zeal. The problem many of us fail to see is how we can be so zealous, but ‘not according to knowledge’, as in we can be sincere, but be sincerely wrong. (Rom. 10:2-3).

Here’s a *News Flash* for us all: God does not need our ‘help’; He ‘needs’, desires...and demands our whole heart, our full trust and faith...and our obedience. Anything short of that will lead you down a path of a ‘form of godliness’ and you will miss out on what God came to do in each and every one of us. (2 Tim. 3:5,7; 2 Pet. 3:9; John 1:12)

I am not here to take on and debate the countless ‘doctrines of men’ that exists today in the ‘church’ world (Mark 7:8-9). But I do know that many ‘believers’ today place much emphasis on ‘faith alone’ that ‘saves’ us, pointing to the faith of Abraham and how it was ‘accounted to him for righteousness’ (Rom. 4:22). In other words, just ‘trusting Jesus’ makes us ‘righteous’, and nothing we do in response ...does. So much for what John wrote in 1 John 2:29 and 3:7, even warning us to ‘be not deceived’. You can tell yourself 100 times a day that you are the 'righteousness of God...through faith in Christ'... but if you are not being led by His Spirit (Rom. 8:4,13-14), you may find yourself in that same group of folks we read about in Matt. 7:21-23.

So let’s talk about this ‘faith’ of Abraham for a moment. God has this ‘thing’ about bringing life out of death. Whether it was that valley of dry bones I mentioned yesterday, or raising up folks like Lazarus, (John 11:43) and us, for that matter, He is still bringing people back from the ‘dead’ today (Eph. 2:1-3). And let’s be clear here...sin is what brings death (Rom. 6:23; 8:13). Why... the ‘seed of promise’ that God made to Abraham came from a ‘dead womb’, did it not? (Rom. 4:19) Oh, I should mention that the primary reason you see so much conflict in the Middle East, even today...is a result of Abraham trying to ‘help’ God out back in Gen. 16. I’m telling you, our trying to assist God has a way of backfiring on us more often than not.

Abraham would have to wait 13 more years after his failed attempt assisting God to see Him move according to His plan (Gen. 16:16; 17:24-25). I could be wrong, but I think these prolonged delays we see and experience at times may be God’s way of putting us in a ‘time out’, hoping we will learn a lesson not easily forgotten. But let’s look back at Rom. 4:19-21 again. We are told that this ‘faith’ that Abraham finally came around to demonstrating was an ‘unwavering faith’ where he was fully convinced that what God has promised...He was also able to perform’. So when ‘believers’ today remain unconvinced that they too...can be set free from sin and actually ‘go and sin no more’...they do NOT share the same ‘faith’ that Abraham had.

And not to sound repetitive here, but that entire generation (excluding Joshua and Caleb) were banned from entering into the promised land because they too, remained unconvinced that God could do what He clearly told them He was going to do through them (Num. 13-14) Why do you think we are warned in scripture to ‘not be like them’ (1 Cor. 10:1-11; Heb. 3:7-19)?

So flipping back to Gen. 15, where we are first told that Abraham ‘believed in the Lord, and He (God) accounted it to him for righteousness’ (6), please note what God told Abraham in that next line: I have this piece of land for you to inherit (7). And as will learn over time, having even reviewed this the past week here...going in to possess this land was not an option. So now we read where Abraham asked the Lord- “How shall I know that I will inherit it?” (Gen. 15:8). Then...God does something rather dramatic; and I say ‘dramatic’ because Abraham would have clearly understood what was about to go down when the Lord instructed him to bring a heifer and a few other animals. God was about to ‘cut’ a covenant with him (9-18). It really does not get more serious than this, unless of course, we talk about a future covenant that God would make with us, but this time, it would not be a heifer or goat being put to death; now it would be His only begotten Son (John 3:16).

For those of you who are convinced we have ‘nothing to do’ with this process of being ‘saved and sanctified’...please make note of Gen. 15:11. What do we see Abraham doing there? Care to guess what those ‘vultures’ represent? (Luke 8:11-12; James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8-9). Meet me back here tomorrow....Lord willing?