Good evening, church. How are we doing this evening? Who’s excited to be in church? Who needs somebody else to be excited for them? Regardless of what brought you here, we are glad to be with you. It’s also nice to be with you people who are seeking the higher things and not concerning themselves with the lesser things like football and it’s only a game when you move, it’s only a game. We have a place for everyone, even Hawthorne supporters. They have a place; it’s called outside. And you guys, it’s so nice to have you all here. And it’s great.
This week, actually, we’re launching a new series at CityLife. Some of you might remember – who remembers our Origins series last year? We went through the Book of Genesis the first 12 chapters and just had a look at the start of the Bible and the stories and how they actually speak to us. I’m excited this week to be launching a series that’s going to go across September that’s going to look at the rest of the Book of Genesis and some of these character’s lives who have led such incredible stories, who have such an incredible example for us all. We’re going to look at Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. And I trust that as we look at these characters that they’re more than just stories. They’re not just nice little things for us to highlight.
But how many people know – I love that saying that if we don’t learn from the mistakes of history we’re doomed to repeat it. And I love that if we look at these stories they’re not just nice stories and not just inspirational but we actually find challenge and encouragement for our own journeys that actually they can be an example for us to follow.
And so I’m excited to start that today with Abraham. So if you if you’ve got your Bibles could you turn to the Book of Genesis, Chapter 15? Father Abraham. We’re going to sing the song as a response today. Who is still recovering from that song? Whose hand, whose foot, which head do I put in the middle? For those of us who weren’t coordinated it wasn’t a good time for us singing that song. But Genesis, Book 15, we’re going to read from verse 1. If you’ve got an iPhone or an iPad why don’t you get that out – if you’ve got an Android, why don’t you just take that out and put that on the floor? I love how someone comes up and says oh Andrew it’s so much more sophisticated. I’m just like, no one cares.
Genesis Chapter 15, verse 1, I’ve got it on the screen for those of you who memorize the Bible. But Genesis 15, it says this. This is Abraham. He’s about 85 years old at this stage. 85. Just setting the story. Genesis, verse 1. After this, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. Do not be afraid. I am your shield your very great reward. But Abraham said, Sovereign Lord what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Elijah of Damascus. And Abraham said, you have given me no children so a servant in my house will be my heir. And the word of the Lord came to him. This servant will not be your heir but a son coming from your own body will be your heir. He took him outside and said look up at the heavens and count the stars, if indeed you can count them. Then He said to him, so shall your offspring be. And Abraham believed the Lord and he credited it to Him as righteousness. Let’s pray.
Lord, this evening we just stop and we pause in this moment. And we thank you that right now your presence is here, God. We don’t ask your presence to be in this place because there is nowhere we can go where your presence isn’t. we just ask instead that you would open our eyes and our hearts to what you were trying to say, God. Lord, I don’t know every single story. I don’t know every single situation here tonight but you do. And I pray that somehow you would take my words and you would speak to those who are here tonight.
For those who are weary, that are worn down, that are feeling tired, I thank you God that you can lift us up and restore hope. And I pray that you would do that, even this evening. For those that are maybe stepping out in faith and struggling with dreams or with oppositions, I just pray that tonight you would remind them that they are not alone. That you are with them. And maybe for those who the whole God thing is new to them, they’re a bit unsure what’s going on, maybe that today they would discover that you are more than just a God who is far away. But you are close and you are inviting them on an incredible adventure to journey with you to see our world transform. We pray all of this, and we leave differently than when we came in because of who you are, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen, Amen.
I remember the first time that I went camping. The Connors are blessed with many things, height being one of them. One of the areas we are not gifted in though is outdoorsmanship. There are several reasons why. One of them is that our skin and the sun don’t get along. And so the Connors growing up haven’t had a great history of camping. I remember the first time my dad took us camping.
Actually just before I tell this story I always like to ask this question. And you can tell a lot about people by how they respond to this question. Who here tonight, for your idea of heaven, your idea of the perfect holiday is you in a forest no one around you, a big fire, tent, marshmallows, counting the stars above you. Who would say yeah that’s perfection? Give me a wave. We’ve got a few, we’ve got a few. Wow. Who here would say, I’m on the other end of the spectrum. I’m not counting the stars in the sky, I’m counting the stars in the hotel. Come on, give me pillows; let it rain pillows. Who’s for that one? Yeah, yeah. That’s my people. I’m with you. Some of you have never been camping. Just let this story live vicariously through you. Google it but don’t do it. But for the rest of you I’ll tell you about the first time I went camping.
I was so excited about camping. Me and my brother had these romantic ideas of what camping would be. And we went with our dad and we thought this was going to be amazing. We were going to sit under the stars and marshmallows are going to rain and we’re going to have bears high-five us. We were very excited about our first camping trip. And then we went camping. I remember we went down to this camping spot, we went to Halls Gap. And dad thought that – and he’s got a lot of gifts, dad’s got a lot of gifts – but he thought it would be wise, astute even, to bring someone else to help us on our journey and I’m very grateful he did. This particular person was a rock-climbing professional. He was going to take us rock climbing.
And I remember we got to Halls Gap and we set up our tents. And I remember I was so excited at this point. Camping and sun and joy and skills. I was very excited about it. I remember my ideals of what camping was slowly started to fade and it started with me asking, after we got set up, hey dad where’s the bathroom? And I remember dad sort of looking off to the horizon and just pointing. And I remember thinking, is there a hotel down there? And no there wasn’t a hotel; I walked and I found, and it still gives me nightmares to this day, this shack-like little place with a pit to hell. And I remember just straight away realizing that maybe camping isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.
I remember going thinking that and then going to our first rock face to climb. And again the guy that came with us was a very nice guy but he was one of those guys that loved to lead everything to this incredible metaphor. It was this amazing story. On the way to the rock he was like rock climbing is like facing your fears. Rocks are fears and you’ve got to overcome your fears. My brother and I are looking at each other going who is this guy? And we’re walking along and are you ready to face your fears, and he’s giving us this big pep talk. And we’re like yeah we’ll climb the rock if you stop talking.
So we set up our rocks on this thing. And we were 14 and 12 at this time. I remember I looked at this big cliff face and I thought to myself I don’t know how this is going to happen. And he’s like guys I want you to picture all of your fears. This is your fears. Are you an overcomer? And I was like whatever helps you sleep. And I started climbing this thing and I got about a 1/3 of the way up. I thought it was a great effort. It wasn’t Mission Impossible but it was good. I got about 1/3 and then I thought nah I can’t go anywhere. I was like can you guys let me down? And he’s like no, face your fears, you’re an overcomer. And I was like I’m okay not to overcome this one man. No, no, you’ve got to face your fears. And I was like the only thing I’m afraid of is how much I’m going to hit you if you don’t let me down. And finally reluctantly he let me down and as he takes the harness off he’s like oh you should have faced your fears. I was not liking him in this moment.
And then my brother went up and he did the same thing. My brother gets about a 1/3 of the way and then he comes back down. And the guy’s like you should have faced your fears. And again my brother and I say just looked at each other. And we’re like alright my fear how about you climb the hill yourself and show us how it’s done. And he started climbing this hill and it was – he’s a professional rock climber. He got about 1/3 of the way up and he got stuck. And I remember me and my brother, again teenagers, just sitting there and going come on mate these are your fears, you’ve got to overcome it, you’re an overcomer. And again he wasn’t a happy man. He was like it’s a bit wet. Rubbish. And so he finally came down and the whole way back to the campsite me and my brother were like oh if only we could all face our fears, hey? Take that.
That night in our tent – I’ve got to show you. A lot of times I tell stories and people say did this really happen? How many people would like to see a photo of us going camping? This is our trip; we have a photo coming up. Look how excited my brother and I are about camping. Dad’s in the middle; he’s pumped up to be there. Me and my brother are like yeah take that Mr. Fear. That was us.
But I remember we went camping and that night we’re talking, oh my fear, face your obstacles, be an overcomer. So the next day, we decided to walk to the next climbing hill. So on the way the guy’s like this is your next chance to face your fears, you overcomers. We were just like, you didn’t do it yourself. But anyway. We got to this spot. And church I can’t make this up. We get to this spot and he starts getting the ropes out and giving us this lecture. And as he’s giving this lecture, I look up and I look to the left and to my left is a plaque, a gravestone, dedicated to someone who died 2 years earlier in that exact spot. And I remember, okay you guys who’s ready to face this? Oh no. I am not doing that. Oh what do you mean? I don’t want to be that. I’ve got a long time before I see that. And he’s like oh what’s going on? And so, he was trying to give us this pep talk. And me and my brother were like no we’re happy not to climb that and be a tombstone. And suffice to say our first camping trip was an up and down ride.
What I thought was going to be incredible and life changing turned out to be a lot of pits, overcoming fear and tombstones. It wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. And it’s funny, this ideal that I had soon met reality. And I found that my ideals and reality were a long way apart. Have you ever noticed how life gets like that at times? We have these wonderful, grand ideals and we start off with such incredible well wishes and good intentions. But as the journey goes on, our ideals quickly meet reality. Whether it’s in a relationship, in our family, whether it’s with that job, in our marriage, it could be anything. We have these wonderful ideals of what it could be but as we go along somewhere it meets reality.
This can happen with our faith too. When we start following Jesus, there’s so many wonderful things that God gives us. I mean, when we start following Jesus, we can find forgiveness, we can find freedom, we can find healing, we can find joy, we can find rest, we can find comfort, we can find security. And it’s amazing when you come to God and you get all of these amazing things from Him. But have you ever noticed that after you start following God, even for a little bit, all of those great things are wonderful but have you ever noticed how God almost has a habit of pushing you a little bit? Kicking you? Pushing you in places that kind of like my climbing instructor he was like alright climb the hill. Oh no thanks I’m just going to sit in my tent and give a marshmallow a go. No start climbing. In fact it’s almost like God goes out of His way to push us out of our comfort zones. It’s almost like He goes out of His way to make us uncomfortable.
I hear this saying once that the devil invented the highlighter so we could highlight the parts of the Bible that we like and leave out the rest. Oh I’ll take that one God that’s a good one; I don’t need that one, we’ll leave that one. And it’s funny, when you can come to God there’s comfort He gives us without the challenge that goes along with it. I’m reminded of the story of Blondin, the famous tightrope walker was alive about 100 years ago called Charles Blondin. He was alive at a time when safety wasn’t really a thing. You just kind of cleared the bodies as they fell. So he did – he was famous for these tightrope walks he used to do between buildings, between all of these different places. He went through all of these spaces. And the most famous of these walks was through a place called Niagara Falls. And he walked across – for those of you who don’t know, it’s this giant waterfall – and he walked across this thing. And on this particular day he had the whole crowd there. Everyone’s cheering and he’s walking across. I mean, just think about it. This waterfall and he’s walking across as everyone’s cheering. He was a bit of a show off, as you would be if you could tightrope walk. He started walking backwards; yeah, he was one of those guys. In fact there’s a story about him taking out an oven once into the middle of one of his tightrope walks and cooking bacon and eggs. That’d be pretty expensive bacon and eggs. On this particular day though after he had walked a few times then he got his wheelbarrow out. And he walked across with his wheelbarrow.
And at this stage the crowd’s going this is amazing, this is incredible. And as he walks back the crowd’s cheering his name. And when the crowd dies down he asks, who thinks I can take someone across this tightrope in a wheelbarrow? Everyone’s like, yes, of course you can, you’re Blondin. Woohoo, they’re all cheering him. When they started to die down, his follow-up question was, who wants to jump in?
That was their response. Everyone just started doing what we do when we walk into church and we don’t want to commit. Oh just avoid eye contact. Not at this church; other churches. Like oh, oh yeah, I’m just looking at anywhere else. So after a few minutes no one put up their hand. Finally one person put up their hand. Do you know who that person was? His mom. Stepped out of the crowd. Imagine that, moms. I’ll go on. And the mom hopped in. and of course they made it across; it’d be a depressing story if they didn’t. They made it there and back. For me, it’s such a powerful image of the journey of faith.
Because if you’re like me I have no problem standing on the cliff side and saying go God, yay for faith. Jesus, we love you. God, I give you my life, I want to follow you, wooh, and we sing the songs. And God says that’s great, hop in the wheelbarrow. We don’t want it. Sometimes it’s easier to sit on the side of the cliff and shout out and sing. We love the ideals; we just don’t want the challenge that comes along with it. And yes our God, our Jesus, He is the God who said come to us all who are weary and I’ll give you rest. But He’s also the God who said whoever wants to follow me must take a cross. He’s the same God who said in this life whoever wants to gain their life in this world will lose it but whoever loses their life by my sake will gain it eternally. He had no problem challenging people.
And the reality is that when it comes to following God, we have a God who is constantly calling his church and calling his people out of their comfort zones, out of what is familiar and safe, and into the unknown, into the life of faith. And today just as we’re sitting here today, I don’t know what brings you into this place, I don’t know where you are in your journey. Maybe as you sit here today you just started following God, and you’ve got such high hopes, such good intentions. You’re excited, and you think you can overcome the world. My prayer is that that faith would be sustained and you hold onto it.
Maybe you’re here today and if you’re honest you’ve been following God for a while. You could tell me some stories of what God’s done. You could quote the songs, the lyrics; you’ve got all of these amazing things. But maybe if you’re honest as the journeys unfolded you’ve found yourself just going through the motions, just doing the right thing, just saying the right thing. But if you’re honest maybe you find yourself in a bit of a rut. Maybe today God’s going to call you and say it’s time to get back up. It’s time to step up.
Maybe you’re here today and somewhere along your journey, somewhere along your walk, someone said something, someone’s done something, and it’s kind of thrown you off. It’s kind of thrown you out of order, if you will. Someone said something, it should never have happened to you, and you’ve got a lot of reasons just to stay seated. You’ve got a lot of reasons just to stay comfortable, just to stay on the side. But maybe today God’s saying I’m not saying what happened isn’t important but here’s the thing I haven’t brought you this far to leave you where you are. You’ve got so much more ahead for you.
And just today maybe God’s wanting to encourage some people. You see, whenever I find myself kind of just going through the motions, I like to look to Abraham. Because he’s the father of faith. I mean, that famous passage in Hebrews 11, faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The certainty of things unseen. And then it goes on to talk about Abraham. I mean, he’s the father of faith. Romans 4 16 says that he is the father of us all in the faith.
You see, Abraham is more than just a nice story for us to admire. He’s an example for us to follow. And the same call that God gave Abraham that said get out of your comfort zone and come follow me that same call goes out to every one of us. God didn’t just come to get our lives altered and safe for a moment. He came to alter our lives every day. He’s not just about a moment. And don’t get me wrong, that’s great. But if that’s all it is, let’s be honest, if God just came to take people straight to heaven, when we baptize people we should just leave them under. Just wait till the bubbles are gone. You’re with Jesus now. But how many people know that God didn’t come just to save us for a moment?
That He has actually got us to join Him, to partner with Him, in being the change and seeing the formation that He wants to see in our world. We have so much more. It’s not enough for us to just lift our heads in a moment. God’s wanting to call us out onto that wheelbarrow for a lifetime. And Abraham for me is the example of that. I mean, Abraham’s life from start to finish was a life of God calling him out of his comfort zone and into risk. I mean, in Genesis 12, God comes to Abraham and says, alright Abraham, I want you to leave your family, I want you to leave your friends, I want you to leave your city and just start going. Ok, where do I go God? I’ll tell you when you get there. It’s kind of like men’s directions. Where are you going? I don’t know but I’ll know when I get there. He just started stepping out.
I mean, think about that. That’s the equivalent of today somebody saying alright you’re going to leave Melbourne, you’re going to leave your family, leave your friends, leave all of your community, hop on a plane, get on an airport, I don’t know what plane you’re going to get on yet but I’ll tell you when you get there. That’s the equivalent. And Abraham does it. That’s crazy. And he’s 75 years old, by the way, when he gets called. That’s proof that you’re never too old. That’s old. He starts stepping out.
Along his way, God brings him outside one day and says, I want you to count the dust. Oh you can’t? Cool. That’s going to be your children. Yeah, God, I’m 80. Yeah, yeah, I know. I have no children. Yeah, I know. And he believed Him. Abraham’s life. God brought him into the desert one time and said north, south, east, west, look all around you. All of this land will one day be yours. See, Abraham’s life, from start to finish, was God calling him out of his comfort zone, out of what is safe, out of what is easy, out of what is familiar and into the unknown. Into the uncertainty, into the impossible, into the life of faith. And I love that passage that we read earlier in Genesis 15 because at this moment in his life Abraham is 85 years old. He’s been following God, he stepped out of his comfort zone, but at this moment that he finds himself, he still hasn’t seen what God told him. Sure, he’s seen God do great things but he hasn’t received the promise.
And I love the imagery in Genesis where – Genesis 15 verse 5 – where it says that God brought him outside, brought him out of his tent, out of his comfort zone, and said count the stars. These are going to be your children. And for me, I love the imagery of the tent and the stars. If you will, these were images of what God was calling Abraham to do and I believe what He’s calling us to do. Because the tent, it represents a place of safety, of comfort, of ease, of familiarity. This is where everything’s easy; you’re cruising. And yet God is always calling us out of our comfort zones, to leave what is certain to count the stars. And the stars represent that which is unreachable. That which is impossible. That which doesn’t make sense in the natural. Yet have you ever noticed that if you can do something on your own chances are it’s not God. But if you can’t do, like if you can’t reach your dream, there’s a good chance it’s God. Because you need Him to make this happen. Why? Because God is always calling us out of the tent.
Abraham’s life was a life of God calling him out. And I believe today God is calling us out. And just for these next few moments, I just want to share this simple idea. For me when I look at Abraham’s life you could sum it up in this one idea. Faith is always counting. Not on what we can see but on what God has said. I’ll say that again. Faith is always counting. Not on what we can see, not on the natural, not on the circumstances, but on what God has said. Faith is always counting.
And just for these last few moments, I just want to share some ideas of just how we can step out of our tents, out of our comfort zones. If you’re taking notes, these are just deep, theological, philosophical, existential reflections on counting stars. Make sure you get that word for word in there. Deep and theological reflections on how to count stars.
Point number one. Get out of your tent. That’s deep, isn’t it? Oh yeah. Simple idea. When you’re in your tent, you can’t see your stars. See when you’re in your tent, all you can see is your tent. When you’re in your tent, all you can see is what is around you. And again it’s not that the tent is a bad place. It’s not that the tent is evil or wrong or bad. It’s just that the tent is not our final destination. But if we’re not careful, we can kind of want to set up shop here. you know, tents can represent multiple things. I don’t know what your tent might represent for you today.
For some people our tent is just our place of comfort. Our tent is all of the people who like us. All of the people who agree with us. It’s our life, our job, it’s just going through the motions. And it’s not that these things are bad. It’s just that more often than not God has more in store for us.
Maybe for you the tent represents a past hurt. Something that happened to you in the past and, I just want to sit down, I don’t want to go anywhere; I don’t want to do anything. And again what happened to you might have should not have happened but I believe in a God that’s always calling us out no matter what’s happened, into something more.
Maybe to you the tent just represents all of the people around you, all of the people that like you. We can easily get caught up in our tent and wonder, God, I want to reach the world, God, I want to be a witness, God, I want to be a light to the generations. God, what’s your will? I want to be a vessel. God why can’t I see when you’re calling me? God, thank you that everyone around me is nice. Thank you that no one disagrees with me.
And, again, it’s not that these things are bad. It’s just that God often has more people outside that He wants to bless. More people outside that He’s wanting to reach. Just like in Genesis 12 God said to Abraham I’m going to bless you but through you I’m going to bless the world. We can’t do that while we’re sitting in our tents. Maybe today for some people God’s saying get out of your tent.
I remember the first time I took my wife camping. That was an adventure. Shelly, my wife, is way off on the spectrum that you might remember earlier. She’s way off in the stars in the hotels. So she said Josiah if you want to go camping and you want me to come, you need to make my bed in that tent more comfortable than my bed at home. And I thought, ok let’s do this. And I remember I borrowed 2 mattresses from good friends the Dodgers and I remember we got 2 mattresses together and I got a big giant piece of foam that I folded over. So this thing was like so soft. It would have made bunnies cry. It was just beautiful.
And I remember setting all of this up with this beautiful bed while I was next to her, on the floor. This is marriage, people. And I remember bringing her there and I remember she kind of got snuggled in and I remember she got her iPad out, put some headphones in, and I remember her saying, camping’s not that bad. And I remember thinking to myself, and I thought it, I didn’t say it, because that’s marriage, we don’t say everything that comes to our mind, and I remember thinking to myself when she said, camping’s not that bad, I remember thinking, that’s not camping. If anything, you’re more comfortable here than at home. And you’re watching an iPad. You could be on a river. You could be anywhere. But she says, I love camping. And I sit there and I thought, that’s not camping.
But you know at times if we’re not careful we can do the same thing with our faith. We can get all snugged up in our tent, all comfortable, this is nice, and we can start saying God thank you for this life of faith. I have faith that I can get a car park this week God. I know it’s a big ask but I’m asking for first row of Knock City, God. I know that you’ve called me to a life of faith, God, I think you for that. And we can live this life where we start hanging out in our tents. And we start hanging with our tent people, and we go to our tent jobs. And again it’s not that any of these things are bad, it’s just that God has so much more in store for us. And if we’re not careful, we can actually reduce faith.to singing some songs once a week and doing some behavior modification.
And I’ve got to tell you, church, that’s just not what Jesus came here to do, to make us feel good and comfortable. He’s got a lot more in store for us; but it can only happen if we get out of our tents. You see, maybe today God’s calling some people; it’s time to get out of your tent. It’s time to get out of your comfort zone; it’s time to get out of that place. You might have a lot of good reasons to be in your tent but here’s the thing you can’t count stars while you’re in your tent. It’s time to get out of your comfort zone, maybe for the first time, or for the first time in a long time. It’s time to get out.
But see God doesn’t call us out individually out of our tents. He also calls us corporately as a church. The church was never meant to live their life in a tent. The church was never meant to just sit and preserve what was. I’ve grown up in this church and more or less I was born in this church. I remember many years ago we didn’t have this balcony. So already this would be different. And I remember many years ago we had flags all around the sides here, of all of the nations we used to have. And people were like, where are the flags gone? Well we’ve got a lot of countries now, over 100 of them, actually, and we’re also not the UN. And so we took them down.
We used to have elders that sat on the stage. And they used to sit. And they were basically the Lipmann’s Test of whether the preacher was doing good. So if they were sitting there saying yeah, everyone else was saying yeah this is good. If they fell asleep, and they did once, I won’t tell you who was preaching but everyone else was like, oh, this is not a good word. People are like where have the elders gone? Oh they’re here, they’re just down there. So when they yawn it’s not as awkward, you know?
Church has changed. Again, it’s not that what was back then was good or evil or wrong or weird. No. it’s just that that was then and this is now. The church grows. But the sad truth is many churches can almost live their lives wanting to sit in tents, just preserving what was. But the church was never called to be a monument preserving what was. It was called to be a movement, engaging what could be. God has more in store for us. He’s calling us out of our tents, corporately.
Our church started in Glen Waverley in the 1960s in the place that some of you are going to get your dumplings after this service. It started there with a group of people who saw themselves not just called to live their lives comfortable in a tent but who said no you know what it’s time for us to get out and start counting. Our founding pastor Richard Holland came to this block of land in about 1983, with 250 people in the congregation, and said I’m going to build an auditorium of 1,000 people. What are you doing, mate? Come back in the tent. It’s fine in here. But he said nah, yes, yes, yes and more.
In 1987, my granddad Kevin Connor took over. He started preaching, he started teaching the word. People started coming. My granddad used to say, we don’t steal sheep from other places, we just grow good grass. And so he spent his years sowing. In 1994, a church of about 1,500, my dad took over. He’s been counting ever since. He said we need to start a world impact ministry where we can change the world around us, not just our city. We need to start a community ministry where we can impact the local people around us because if the church was to disappear would anyone notice? He said we need to start LifeGroups because as good as a big crowd is it’s not just about doing that; it’s about doing life together. So he started LifeGroups and today there’s over 500 LifeGroups. He changed the name of the church from Waverly Christian Fellowship because we’re not in Waverley. He’s counting. He started churches around the city.
I’m so grateful to be part of a church that has lived its life and it’s got a history of people not just going let’s stay comfortable, let’s stay safe, let’s stay easy. They said it might be awkward, it might be weird, people might laugh but we’re going to counting. We’re going to be counting, and they’re still counting.
The story building project is not just a way for us to preserve what was. It’s a way for us to say there’s more stories. We see 10,000 stories of transformation that have yet to be reached. God is calling us out, church. I don’t ever want to be in a church that is just sitting in a tent. It’s not that what happened is bad or what happened is wrong. It’s we thank God for that, we’re grateful for that, we honor that, but we recognize that our God has so much more. He’s doing a new thing. We are counting stars. Get out of your tent. Deepened theological reflections. Get out of your tent.
Number two. Deep, theological reflections. If you lose your place, keep counting. You can imagine Abraham, getting out of his tent that night – again, remember he’s 85, he’s got no kids – God said you’re going to have children, as many as the stars, I can just imagine him out that night going alright – there’s 3,000 stars visible to the naked eye, 250 million in our Milky Way galaxy, if you’d count 3 of them a second for 100 years you’d only get through about 5% – 1, 2. Sarah, Abraham. Oh, what, what? I’ve got to start again. 1. He would have had many times where he tried to count. And he may have had many distractions that would make him pause. And not just distractions that would cause him from counting the literal stars. He would have had a lot of reasons not to have faith. In fact, God came to him at 75 and said, you’re going to be a father.
Have you ever noticed that with God when He promises something and He fulfills something there’s this wonderful gap? Where it’s almost like everything is thrown at you to make you doubt the promise in the first place. Joseph, your brother’s going to be mad at you but you’re going to be the ruler of Egypt. Yay. 13 years in a prison. Oh. David, you’re going to be king of Israel. Yes. But Saul’s going to try to kill you for 14 years. The promises of God, we can almost want to try to microwave them. Can I have a microwave promise, God? I know there’s a lot of gap but can I just have it now? If we’re not careful, we can try to microwave the promises of God. Abraham tried to microwave the promise of God with Hagar and Ishmael. How did that turn out? Not very good. When you try to take the things off God and make Him show you how it should be done, oh so you show him how it should be done, it doesn’t really work out. And the truth is that faith is always counting but maybe here this evening maybe like Abraham you have a lot of reasons not to count.
Abraham was 85. God yeah thanks for the promise of the kids but I know you made this body and stuff but come on. 85. I’ve got faith but wow. He had a lot of reasons not to. And maybe you’re here tonight and you look at your situation and you think of some of the promises, some of the dreams that God has given you. Maybe you’ve got a lot of reasons not to. Maybe you’ve got a lot of reasons to give up, to throw it in, to just go, whatever. But I feel that God just wants to encourage some people here this evening.
You just need to hear one thing. If you forget everything else, God wants to encourage you. Don’t stop counting. Don’t stop counting. Faith is always counting. Not on what we can see but upon what God has said. And if you can’t see it, you keep counting. And if you still can’t see it, you keep counting because one way or another out God is a God who will work all things together for good. Keep counting.
See we’ve got a lot of reasons to lose our place, and sometimes life can make us lose our place. Sometimes people can make us lose our place. I’ve got a love-hate relationship with reality television. I hate how much I love it. Ah. One of my favorite things to do is to get home with my wife, sit on our couch – and, again, some of you are going to go I can’t believe he’s a preacher, but I’m confessing to you. One of my favorite things to do is to get at home, on my couch, with McDonalds and just watch reality TV and just judge people. I just love judging people. I mean, who’s with me? Honest time. I just love sitting there and judging everyone. I feel so vindicated on my couch for that hour. And then I feel miserable. But it’s amazing. I just sit there. I’ll watch Master Chef. Guess who’s only cooked 2 meals in his life and both of them were terrible? This guy. And watch Master Chef and I’m like oh I don’t know about that fillet mignon, mate, should have cooked that for 3 ½ minutes not 3. Get him off; vote him out. I watch X Factor. I can’t sing that good but oh that was a bit flat, how did they get on this is in the first place? What is going on? Australia must be deaf. I love judging.
And now we have wonderful devices that help us judge. Just in case you want to know I didn’t like that meal I’m going to Tweet it. We judge people. In fact in this current generation, the posture of our generation is kind of like that. Where we sit in our tents. And for this current generation for many young people they look at what has gone before them and they hate the hypocrisy, the fakeness, of what was. But they look to the future and they can’t see it or can’t be bothered reaching it. So they just sit and judge. We can just sit and judge. Sometimes it’s easier to judge. It covers up the fact that you’re doing nothing.
This can creep into our faith too. We can create a culture of criticism, where it’s like the first thing we do when we walk into a place is just what’s wrong with this place? What’s wrong with this young preacher? I don’t know. I don’t know what they’re doing in this place. I don’t like that tent; should have got a bigger one. Not you; other churches would say these things. But we can adopt this posture of criticism. And we rubbish people. What are you praying like that for? Don’t be silly; God doesn’t answer like that. What are you using that gift for, mate? You’re not qualified for doing that. More often than not, that criticism is just to cover up the fact that we’re doing nothing. And the reality is that maybe for some of us here today we need to stop talking and start walking. Because, no offence, but if you live your life in a tent, no one wants to pay attention to you. It sounds harsh but if you’re sitting in your tent doing nothing it’s very hard to have people listen to you. You might be out and failing but at least you’re learning something.
God might be out there telling some people – maybe some words have been thrown at you. Maybe some name have been thrown at you. Maybe some situations or some people have done some things to maybe make you go back and retreat and withdraw and question what God has done. But today I just think that God wants to encourage some people. Don’t stop counting. Don’t let the mistakes of the past rob you from what God has ahead for you. Don’t let the words of others keep you weighed down. God has more for you. You might lose your place, you might stumble along the way, but don’t stop counting. Deep and theological reflections on counting stars. Get out of your tent. If you lose your place, keep counting.
And number five, finally, don’t forget what the stars represent. When Abraham was counting those stars, he was counting stars that were literally going to become his property. He wasn’t just going I can’t wait until I own the Milky Way. No. for him, this stars represented people. You know, at this stage, Abraham actually wasn’t called Abraham. He was called Abram. Abram means exalted father. Almost like an exotic twist. At 85, mate, your name’s Abram exalted father and you’ve got nothing. In those days, names carried a lot of power. I mean, today we just call our kids anything hip and cool like blueberry, lettuce or apple, or something. But in the ancient near east, names were actually tied to your destiny. Jacob was called the grasper. It was tied to his destiny.
Abram exalted father, here is a name, talk about a name, for keeping someone down. Talk about almost this weight of shame around him. And what I love is that in the next chapter, God meets Abram and says I’m not going to call you Abram anymore. I’m going to call you Abraham, which means father of nations. You see, what God does is He meets us where we are and the names that have been thrown at us, the labels that have been thrown at us, have all the things that have maybe kept us or made us doubt, the names that people would maybe want us to be weighed down with, God says I know those names but I’ve got something better in store for you. He stands in our future with our potential and calls us out of our comfort zones and says don’t stay where you are.
Don’t allow these words and these names to keep you bound. I’ve got something better in store for you. Maybe there’s been some words that have been thrown at you. Maybe there’s a lot of reasons that you’ve got. Well I don’t want to – God’s saying don’t allow the names that people have thrown at you to keep you down. You’re a man, you’re a woman. You’re Asian, you’re not Asian. You’re divorced. You’re failed. You’re miserable. You’re not married, you’re married. You’re re-married. We can throw so many words around at each other and we can allow those labels if we’re not careful to define our very identity. But we’ve got to remember to keep our eyes not on the names that people throw at us but upon the name of all names, from whom we get our identity from in the first place. Because it’s from Him that we find our security. Don’t allow the names that have been spoken over you to define you.
In 1927, a young boy was born to a mother who, for a multitude of reasons, couldn’t look after him. She had him to a person on a one-night stand. And she tried to look after this boy as best she could but after three months she couldn’t do it. She returned him to an agency and she changed his name on the certificate because she didn’t want this young boy to come find her and to deal with the shame that would come along with it. So she changed the name of this young boy so that he wouldn’t find her. That young boy was my granddad, Kevin Connor. What many people don’t realize is that Connor isn’t our proper name; it’s a made up name. We’ve had nice people actually give us genealogies. It’s just awkward because it’s a fake name, but thanks. But he was brought up in a place where he went from foster home to foster home. From place to place, house to house, with a name hanging over his head that was a constant reminder of his past. And if anyone had a reason to allow his past or his circumstances just to shape his future, it was him. If anyone had a reason to say, I’m just going to get on by, I’m just going to try to make ends meet, if anyone had a reason just to stay in his tent, it was my granddad.
He gave his life to Christ and he started counting. And he started stepping out. And today I sit here and I stand her at 25 years old, the inheritor of a legacy that I do not deserve. The recipient of a heritage that I have not asked for and I have done nothing good to deserve it. But I am what I am and doing what I’m doing in large part because of a man who refused to allow his circumstances to shape his future. And for me the name Connor is a constant reminder that our past doesn’t need to determine our future and the decisions we make today are going to impact the generations to come.
I just want to encourage some people here today. Don’t ever forget why you do what you do. Particularly to dads. This applies to everyone but particularly to dads. Don’t ever forget why you do what you do. Don’t ever forget why you sacrifice; why you work hard. Why you have faith and tears. Why you’re faithful when no one’s cheering. Why you’re working hard when there’s no halleluiah chorus around you. It’s not just so you can amass a lot of good stuff that you can leave to your children. It’s so that you can leave something within your children. Because your legacy could far outweigh your years. And the question to ask yourself is what kind of legacy am I leaving? I want to encourage the dads, don’t ever forget why you do what you do.
And for all of us here today. The decisions we make, impact the future. The decisions we make impact future generations. And just as the band is coming up today, you know, it’s a simple thought in church today as we begin this series on origins but faith is always counting. Not on what we can see but on what God has said.
And today I’d just like to finish by praying for some people. And again, I don’t know every story here today. I don’t know every situation. I don’t know what’s going on in your world right now. But I daresay there’s a lot of people here today who if you’re honest it’s God telling you today it’s time to come out of your tent. It’s time to step out. You might have a lot of reasons, you might be comfortable, you might be sad, maybe things were spoken but today God’s saying it’s time to get out of your tent. It’s time to start counting the stars. Maybe you were counting but along the way something happened. You had a bad encounter, you had a bad experience, you stepped out and you failed. Something happened to you, something was done to you and it shouldn’t have happened. And you’ve got a lot of reasons just to stay in your tent. And I’m not here to belittle what was or to try to put down what was. But I do believe in a God who has so much more in store for you. And maybe today He’s wanting to remind you afresh. Don’t allow what has gone before you to shape you forward. There is something out there for you. It’s time to get out of your tent and kick start counting stars. Don’t forget the reasons why you do what you do.
I’d love to pray for some people. And if you are here today and you’re saying Josiah I want you to include me in a prayer to restore that faith, I want you to include me in a prayer just to restore that courage, that boldness, that adventure, that risk that comes with following Jesus. Maybe today you say Josiah I want to step out of my tent; I feel God calling me out of that, would you include me in that prayer? In just a second I’m going to ask you to stand. I’d love to pray with you. Maybe you’re here today and you’re saying Josiah I’ve got a lot of reasons not to. A lot of things have happened. But maybe today God is saying it’s time to shake off the dust. It’s time to leave the tent and try again, risk again.
Regardless of what it is, I’d love to just pray with people who are here today saying Josiah would you include me in a prayer for those who want to live this life of risk, who never stop counting the stars? If that’s you, I want to ask for our eyes actually to be open. The reason for this is we’re a family here at church. This is a safe place. If you can’t stand in front of family, you can’t stand here. and if you’re saying Josiah would you include me in that prayer, I need that faith, I want to live that life, would you just right where you are would you just stand on your feet so I know who I’m praying with? I’m not going to force, I’m not going to drag anyone out but right where you are would you just stand on your feet? Thank you, thank you.
Say I want to live this life that is counting the stars. I want to get out of my tent, get out of my comfort zone. I don’t want to settle where I am. I don’t want the words that have been spoken over me to keep me where I am. Wonderful. Wonderful. I’m not going to drag this. I’m not going to force this out. That’s not what I’m about. But I would love to just pray for people who say can you include me in that prayer? Wonderful. If you’ve got someone near you right now, would you just reach out a hand? Again, when we do this it’s nothing spooky, nothing weird, it’s just a sign of saying we’re in this together. We’re joining in agreement right now. We’ve all been in that space where we need that agreement or we need that lift. Let’s pray right now.
God, I thank you for every single man, every single woman, who is standing right now. God I just thank you so much that you are a God who today is meeting them right where they are. And I don’t know their stories, I don’t know their situations, but you do and I pray that today you would restore hope, you would restore faith in peoples’ situations. For those who are here today and maybe they’ve been in their tent for a while and they’ve had a lot of reasons not to get out I pray that today you would give them courage, you would let them know that you are with them and you would never leave them. And they would step out in faith. For those who are here today and maybe they haven’t stepped out and they’re facing an obstacle and there’s a lot of uncertainties in the air and maybe they’re feeling like maybe they made the wrong decision, I pray that today you would remind that you are with them. That you are for them, not against them. That you can do anything and more than they can ask or imagine, God. I pray that today they would be encouraged with that, so that those who are here today and maybe things that have happened in the past things were spoken that should never have been spoken, and they’ve allowed Lord those words to maybe keep them down. I pray that today they would be broken in the name of Jesus.
Lord, I pray that you would take off the shackles and the weight and the strongholds and the lies that have been spoken over them and you would replace them with your freedom, with your courage, with your boldness, with your faith, and that they would even leave here tonight with something different in their step because they’ve encountered a God that is calling them into something more. God, would you let us to be a church, would you help us to be a community that never stops counting stars, God. Would you help us to be grateful and honor the past? To get out of our tents and with eyes wide say what God is there ahead of us? What more do you have for us? We want to be part of that adventure, God. We thank you for what’s gone before us but in advance we also thank you for what is ahead because we think the best is yet to come. We pray this evening in the mighty name of Jesus. Everyone say, Amen.