Participants: Michael Kontes
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000415
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00:30 Hello my name is Michael Kontes,
00:32 and I want to welcome you to Faith Chapel. 00:35 Today, we're going to look at 00:37 The Patriarch Abraham", but first let us pray. 00:43 Father we come to thee now and we thank thee 00:45 for the opportunity that we've to turn 00:48 the leaves of the word of God, 00:50 Your Bible and to look at stories 00:52 that can give us inspiration, 00:54 and hope, and strength. 00:56 Be with us now as we look at this story, 00:58 help us to gain a greater understanding of you, 01:03 in Jesus name, amen. 01:08 Father Abraham, as children we've sang that song. 01:12 Today, I want to look at the call of Abraham 01:17 and in fact wasn't Abraham 01:19 given you a little teaser here, 01:21 it was Abram prior to the name Abraham. 01:26 And so if we would open up our Bibles 01:28 to Genesis Chapter 12, we're gonna 01:31 read a couple text here that describe 01:34 the call that God gave to Abram. 01:39 "Now the Lord has said unto Abram, 01:42 Get thee out of thy country, 01:45 and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, 01:49 unto a land that I'll shew thee, 01:53 And I'll make thee a great nation, 01:57 and I'll bless thee, and I'll make thy name great, 02:00 and thou shalt be a blessing, 02:03 And I'll bless them that bless you, 02:07 and curse him them that curseth thee, 02:10 and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 02:14 So Abram departed, as the Lord 02:17 had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him, 02:21 and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, 02:26 and into the land of Canaan they came. 02:34 After the Tower of Babel, 02:36 brothers and sisters idolatry spread like wildfire. 02:40 The Bible tells us and as idolatry 02:43 began to spread God's eyes ran to and fro 02:47 on the earth to look for an individual 02:51 who could carry his oracles and be a light on a hill 02:57 to this world that is in such darkness. 03:01 God's eyes look to and fro and he found an individual, 03:04 the scriptures tell us by the name of Abraham. 03:07 We're also told here in the scriptures 03:09 that a God called Abram, out and said 03:13 "Get thee out of thy country, from thy kindred, 03:16 and from My father's house". 03:19 Have any of you ever felt that call? 03:22 I can share with you that I felt that call early in 1997. 03:27 I was studying the word of God, 03:29 I was raised as most of you know, 03:31 I was raised Greek Orthodox, a staunch Greek Orthodox. 03:35 My dad was what's called a canter 03:37 in the Greek Orthodox Church. 03:39 He is someone who sings hymns and scriptures 03:41 while the priest is performing the liturgy. 03:43 My father always fasted on all the holy days. 03:46 My dad was a very devout man, 03:48 very devout Greek Orthodox. 03:49 Some people in all denominations, 03:52 whether it's a, you know, we call him Joe whatever. 03:56 My dad was never a Joe Greek Orthodox. 03:58 My dad was very devout, always went to Church, 04:01 had a high regard for his faith. 04:03 And so I always, was able to see 04:07 what religion meant to my father. 04:10 Now from being Greek Orthodox 04:14 I went to a Pentecostal High School 04:16 for four years great change for me. 04:20 As I went to the Pentecostal High School 04:22 I did not, I didn't understand 04:24 everything in the beginning. 04:26 When I went for my interview, 04:27 the principal told me that 04:28 we've Chapel services once a week. 04:30 We've spiritual emphasis weeks two times a year 04:34 and so-- we're fine with that, 04:36 and so as I went to the school 04:38 I remember the first Chapel of the year. 04:41 Remember I walked in, now remember 04:43 I'm raised Greek Orthodox, 04:45 a very reverent during our service, 04:47 we don't even, taught not to cross my legs, 04:49 I'm just taught to focused in on the priest 04:52 and what he is doing during the liturgy. 04:54 And lo and behold, I'm walking 04:55 into a Pentecostal worship service. 04:58 Singing, hands up, ablaze, 05:03 and I was like a child who saw Mickey Mouse 05:07 for the first time at Disneyland. 05:10 I was like in at a shock, I was thinking, 05:12 well I've never seen this before and throughout my time 05:16 at this high school I began to see how God was impressing 05:20 in my heart that He has believers in all faiths. 05:23 And God was using this high school 05:27 to slowly begin to give me the call to go 05:30 where He wanted me to go. 05:32 Now it was until years later till I gave my heart to Him, 05:35 but I'll share with you. 05:37 In 1997 after I gave my heart to Him, 05:41 God told me that I needed to take a stand 05:44 and so I did take a stand in it, 05:46 hurt my-- it hurt my family. 05:49 My family could not understand 05:50 why I left the faith that I was raised in. 05:53 But I came to a place where my father's faith 05:59 could not be my faith. 06:01 And my faith cannot be my father faith. 06:03 Each and every one of us are on a journey 06:06 and each and every one of us, 06:08 each person is on a different path. 06:12 And God is always calling out to all of us 06:15 during this journey on this path and no one, 06:18 no one wears the same shoes. 06:23 Well, as God was calling me out, 06:26 I realize very quickly that the reason 06:30 why God calls people out in situations 06:34 like Abraham like others. 06:36 I'm sure many of you have been called out 06:38 from one faith to the next and so on. 06:41 Is to be able to qualify them for the work, 06:43 meaning a lot of times if we keep 06:46 our historical associations, 06:50 many times we could fall right back to where 06:53 God doesn't want us to be. 06:55 Now, when God called Abraham, 06:59 he said I'll make thee a blessing to others. 07:03 I'm going to make a great nation out of thee. 07:06 Notice God could had made great nation 07:08 to be out of many people 07:09 but he specifically chose Abraham. 07:13 Many times that's why God calls you, calls me, 07:17 calls others to come out of our situations, 07:20 because He wants us to be a blessing 07:22 to our family members, to our coworkers, 07:25 to other people that He is gonna bring 07:28 across our path on our journey. 07:31 Now for Abraham to accept the call of God, 07:38 he would need to step out in faith. 07:40 And friends stepping out in faith 07:42 at times I'm-- is it difficult thing? 07:46 It is a very difficult, we as individuals are used to 07:50 our little comfort zone and as long as 07:53 we're in our little comfort zone, 07:55 we're happy, I'm happy, you're happy, we're all happy. 08:00 But God calls us to come out of our comfort zone 08:05 because when we're not in comfort zone 08:07 what we began to do is we began to trust in ourselves, 08:14 trust in others, trust in our environment, 08:17 begin to trust in our instincts and so on. 08:21 And what God wants us to be is God wants us to be reliant 08:23 and trusting completely, completely on Him. 08:29 Can you imagine, can you imagine leaving a place 08:34 of familiarity for years 08:38 and going to the unknown on a call from God. 08:45 Now Abraham heard the voice of God. 08:50 I believe today, you and I still hear His voice, 08:54 but not some much audibly at times 08:58 through His spoken word. 08:59 And in fact we've more reasons to believe 09:02 and step out in faith than Abraham did. 09:05 I say that with absolute conviction, 09:08 we can go from Genesis to Revelation 09:11 and we can see how many of His people, 09:15 the stories that give inspiration to you, 09:20 to others, to me, 09:23 these stories are so many multiple stories, 09:28 after multiple stories that we really have no excuse. 09:34 Also I want to share, notice within the story. 09:38 Abraham did not ask God any questions. 09:44 Lord, have mercy, brothers and sisters. 09:46 How many times God calls us and we've 800 questions 09:50 when He gives us a call. 09:52 God's calling us to go somewhere else to minister 09:55 and the first thing we say is, 09:58 God is the weather helpful? 10:01 Will I find the right food over there to eat? 10:04 Will there be right stores for me? 10:06 Will I've my three car garage or my four car garage? 10:10 How about, is it going to be five bed rooms 10:13 or six bedrooms, three baths? 10:16 God how many bass lakes are gonna be around there, 10:19 so on my days off, I can go fish. 10:21 There better be at least a dozen, 10:23 because if there is only one or two I might get bored. 10:26 Notice Abraham did not question God at all. 10:29 Abraham, Abraham was willing to walk forth 10:36 with no delay when he heard the voice of God. 10:41 I believe that you and I should follow His example. 10:46 There's many times in my life 10:48 when I did not follow God's call right away. 10:51 There's many times where I was obstinate 10:53 and hard and said no way. 10:55 In fact, I'll give you personal experience, 10:58 just happened a couple of years ago. 11:00 I looked at it as no way, I can't do this, 11:03 God doesn't want me to do this, but He did. 11:05 In 2004, my conference came to me 11:10 and they asked me, they said, you know, 11:11 we want to reassign you to the seminary. 11:14 We want you to go and get your masters 11:16 and we're gonna send you at the end of this year 11:19 and I was like, what? 11:21 I didn't want to go to Andrews. 11:23 You know, why I don't want to go to Andrews, 11:25 because friends let me share with you. 11:28 I was so busy doing ministry and I wanted to hasten 11:32 the coming of God that I felt going back to school 11:35 will slow down my progress in winning souls to Jesus. 11:42 How stupid does that sound? 11:44 I mean, I believe that at the time, hindsight now, 11:47 I look back and I say what in the world 11:48 was I thinking about? Let me elaborate. 11:53 I did not want to go because you see 11:55 I've a special loved one in the grave waiting for me. 11:59 And my thought process is as fast as I can 12:01 hasten the coming of Jesus, 12:03 I'll be able to see this beautiful little girl 12:06 once more, quick. 12:09 And I need to do everything within my power 12:11 to hasten Jesus is coming right now, 12:14 so I can see her. 12:15 I don't want to go to Andrews, 12:17 not knowing that God had a special plan for me. 12:19 And I was questioning Him, questioning Him. 12:22 I was, friends, I was running from God 12:27 not waning to do His will. 12:30 Upon being at Andrews, God showed me many things. 12:34 I met many friends and after how many times in your life 12:38 do you have an opportunity to break away two and half years 12:41 to assess what you have done, 12:43 to evaluate the pro and the cons 12:45 of what you have done up to this point. 12:48 I had an opportunity to break away and assess my situation 12:52 to learn from some teachers that I respect 12:55 and all my friends today. 12:57 And now if I've the opportunity which I believe 13:00 to now have someone else's experience helped me 13:05 with the experiences that I'll have in ministry. 13:07 And in fact by going there for two and half years, 13:11 I actually excelled my learning process, 13:14 I believe for ten years. 13:16 Now I don't know if everyone story is like mine, 13:18 but I can share with you I didn't want to go, 13:20 and God showed me afterwards, 13:22 that you know what, Mike you are pretty dumb. 13:24 And you know what, I've to admit Jesus, 13:26 yeah you are right, I'm dumb. 13:28 Now, I'm also thankful that 13:31 God loves dummies like me, are you? 13:35 Can I hear the amens? 13:38 I'm so thankful that he can embrace me 13:40 and be patient with me and not just discard me. 13:44 Now I wish I was more like Abraham 13:47 when He heard the call, he was willing to go ASAP. 13:51 He was willing to follow God's word and we know, 13:54 there is many stories that Abraham during his life time 13:58 did not do the will of God. 13:59 But particularly in the context of this story, 14:03 breaking away from his family, 14:04 breaking away from his friends, 14:06 breaking way from the where he lived, 14:08 to go to a land that he did not know. 14:11 Abraham didn't delay. 14:13 He needed to take a leap of faith and he did so. 14:16 which should encourage you and I 14:17 to be able to take that leap of faith, 14:19 because we've the past and pervious experiences 14:23 of how God has led us. 14:24 We've no other account here that 14:26 God came to Abraham prior. 14:28 Can you imagine the first time experience, 14:30 God comes into your life, He says, 14:31 "Get thee out of thy country, and out of thy kindred 14:33 and out of thy father's household. 14:36 For me it took many years to be called out. 14:38 And then when I heard the call I followed, I followed. 14:43 Now Abraham did not have laundry list for God 14:50 of what he wanted, he just followed. 14:53 The next step, the next point in this sermon, 14:56 we see comes the safest place to be is the place 15:02 where God bids you to be. 15:05 Let me explain I've come to the place to realize 15:10 that I would rather be in the place 15:13 where God has placed me, 15:15 where he has specifically set me then to be at the place 15:20 where I want to be outside of His will. 15:23 And friends I can tell you sometimes if I think 15:25 I'm outside of God's will, I'm very fearful, 15:29 I'm stricken with the sense of fear. 15:31 I'm afraid that God is gonna create 15:33 this big huge monster beast to come up and swallow me, 15:36 take me to the shores of the local city 15:39 that he wants me to minister to, spit me out in the shore. 15:41 And, you know what, I don't want, 15:43 I don't want be in belly of the great beast. 15:45 I would rather be following the will of God the first time 15:50 and say God I would rather be where You want me to be 15:54 even in if its in the midst of a mob. 15:56 If that's where you want me to be, 15:58 than being outside of Your will. 16:01 Now notice once again, 16:04 no questions were asked by Abraham, 16:06 no questions, no excuses, no testing God. 16:10 God I need to throw up a fleece to you in. 16:12 Next thing you know we've thrown out 500 fleeces 16:14 because that's an excuse. 16:16 Remember the story of Balaam. 16:18 Here certain kings, the enemies of Israel came 16:22 and Abraham knew -- I mean Balaam knew 16:26 what he should do, but yet he began to say, 16:29 let me pray about this, let me go tests 16:31 and see what God wants me do. 16:33 When we delay in and what God is willing for our lives, 16:38 what happens is we spend the opportunity of growth. 16:43 We delay the opportunity of growth. 16:47 Now, the reason as we said earlier God takes out 16:52 of our comfort zone is to specifically 16:54 become reliant upon him. 16:57 We trust too many times our talents, 17:00 our own skills as we said earlier. 17:02 We begin to trust others, so you begin. 17:05 For example of your ministry, you're pastor, 17:08 you're in a conference and you begin to built your network 17:11 in a conference and you feel comfortable in that conference 17:14 and pretty soon you can become reliant upon 17:17 the ministerial director, 17:18 the conference president, or whatever. 17:21 And then you could loose sight of the one 17:25 who you should be reliant upon. 17:27 That can for a church member, 17:29 a church member can become reliant upon a pastor. 17:32 A church member can look upon the pastor as standing 17:37 in the place of God which is totally wrong. 17:42 I've seen it happen before though. 17:44 And this and members can become so reliant 17:47 upon a pastor that the decisions that they make 17:51 are really based upon what the pastor tells them. 17:55 One of the things that I like to share with 17:57 the lot of my members and the congregations 18:00 that I serve is that, you can come to me for counsel 18:04 and even suggestions. I've open doors, 18:10 but I can only give you suggestions 18:12 and some kind of counsel. 18:14 I always recommend an individual to go to God 18:16 and make God their source of strength to answer 18:20 the questions that they need, or that they have. 18:23 Now, if you notice in the story, 18:26 Abraham was called and he was called out 18:28 and taken to foreign land. 18:30 I was called out in my life. 18:32 Many people throughout the thread of the Bible 18:34 were called out. 18:36 You notice though the calling does not just end in Genesis, 18:41 or Exodus, Leviticus whatever. 18:43 The calling goes through all the way from Deuteronomy 18:47 to the Book of Matthew. 18:48 When Jesus comes on the scene, He says, 18:50 come and follow me. 18:52 He is basically calling out His disciples 18:53 saying come follow me. 18:56 Then that thread runs all the way 18:58 into the Book of Revelation. 19:00 Let us turn there to the Revelation 18 19:03 specifically verse 4 and see what it says. 19:08 And I hear another voice from heaven, 19:10 saying, come out of her, my people, 19:13 that ye be not partakers of her sins, 19:16 and that ye receive not of her plagues. 19:22 Notice here at the end of days in the Book of Revelation, 19:27 God is continually calling out people. 19:30 Specifically here, He is calling out people 19:34 that they will not be partakers of her plagues, 19:37 that her is for a later time, a later sermon. 19:41 What I really want to focus in and notice 19:43 He says come out of her, 19:44 my people, come out of her, my people. 19:48 There are people today that are in many places 19:51 that God does not want them to be and God goes out 19:54 with His beckoning voice through the instrumentality 19:58 of the Holy Spirit and He says come out of her, 20:01 my people, get thee out of thy kindred, 20:05 of thy nation from thy father's house, 20:08 because God wants to make us separate. 20:12 Brothers and sisters I want share with you today. 20:15 The reason why God calls us out to be separate 20:17 is not only for us to learn a greater, 20:21 to have a greater amount of faith 20:23 or just to make him our only source. 20:26 The reason why God is calling us out today is because 20:29 they are other people who need to see God through you 20:34 and through me. 20:36 And the only way that God will be able to qualify us 20:39 for that work is it we come out. 20:43 The Bible tells us that we -- God is long suffering, 20:47 long suffering that none should perish. 20:52 God is holding back the winds of strife today. 20:58 So that His people, My people He says, 21:01 come out of her, my people, 21:03 so people will be able to come out 21:07 from their own from familiar settings. 21:11 So that God can begin to transform shape, 21:15 be the porter and have them be the clay, 21:18 so that you will be a domino effect in someone else's life. 21:23 I'd like to share a story with you at this point. 21:27 When I came out of the familiar settings that I had, 21:33 I knew I was going on the right path. 21:37 I followed, I grow up playing football in high school, 21:40 I was quarterback and safety. 21:43 In my local high school I played sophomore, 21:45 junior and senior year and I started my junior 21:48 and senior year as quarterback 21:49 and safety of the football team. 21:51 I was MVP of on the offence for my senior year, 21:55 loved football, loved to watch the Dallas Cowboys play, 22:00 that was one of my hang ups you could say. 22:04 I was addicted to them, 22:06 I was addicted you follow me, addicted. 22:09 Well, I had a friend of mine at the gym, 22:10 his name was Rick. 22:12 Rick was a truck driver for Safeway. 22:16 And I remember Rick and I'd have these discussions 22:18 at the gym, when he come in every morning 22:20 about the Dallas Cowboys and fortunately for me 22:23 during this time in the early 1990s 22:25 I had the upper hand in the relationship, 22:27 because that's when the Dallas Cowboys 22:28 were at their apex. 22:31 Well, just as the Dallas Cowboys 22:34 started going down in their apex in 1995 22:37 and I found the Lord in 1996 and I was baptized in 1997. 22:43 During that period when Rick and I would talk at the gym, 22:46 we would sit back and we talk about the Cowboys. 22:49 One day I walked in after I've given my heart to Jesus 22:52 and Rick hadn't been there for, 22:54 I don't know three or four days 22:55 and I felt compelled that every time I went to the gym 22:58 I started opening up the Bible. 23:00 Before all I would do is watch ESPN around the clock, 23:03 when I'm on the bike, when I was at home wherever, 23:05 in walking through mall, I watch ESPN. 23:08 Well, I came into the gym one morning, 23:11 put my Bible on the bike and I started riding in 23:13 and Rick walked in. 23:15 Rick came and sat up next to me. 23:17 He looked at me and he goes Mike, 23:20 what in the world are you're doing. 23:22 And I said, I'm reading the Bible and he looked at me 23:24 and he goes you are so stupid. 23:29 Notice I do dump things, I do stupid things at times. 23:31 Now Rick was just verifying. 23:32 He looked at me and said you are stupid 23:34 and when he said that I could have got very defensive, 23:38 but I didn't. You know what I did, 23:40 I got excited, I jumped for joy, joy, joy. 23:44 I jumped for joy and the reason why I jumped for joy 23:46 is because in the Bible, 23:47 it says people will call you a fool, 23:51 people will think you're stupid 23:52 when you give your entire life over to Jesus, 23:56 and this was validating what the Bible said. 23:58 And so, as God was calling me, 24:00 He began to give me signals that yes Mike, 24:03 you are on the right path. 24:04 I needed signals Abraham didn't, I did. 24:09 I bet there's many of you out there today 24:10 you have many different stories to share 24:12 how God gave you these little confirmations on the way 24:15 for you being called out. 24:18 Another time a similar example is 24:22 when God was calling me out was with my wife. 24:25 My wife was praying for me to find Jesus, 24:28 our marriage was falling apart at the end of 1995. 24:31 And she was praying Lord, he needs to find You again, 24:33 where you make yourself real in his life, 24:35 will you reveal Yourself to him and God did. 24:40 The difference is my wife did not, 24:42 she though that when I was going to find God, 24:45 I was gonna find God in the familiar aridity 24:48 of the faith experience that we've had. 24:52 Well, God did not go there, 24:55 God completely took me out the something different 24:57 and this was very difficult for her. 24:59 But because of my loyalty to God, 25:03 because I allowed Him, 25:05 because I allowed Him access to, 25:07 complete access friends, not partial access, 25:10 but complete access to my heart and to my mind, 25:13 He began transforming my heart, 25:15 He began transforming my mind, 25:17 He began making me a new individual, 25:19 because I stepped out in faith, 25:21 because I made Him my source, 25:23 because I was willing to say to Him God take me 25:26 as I'm and shake me please. 25:28 I don't like who I'm and I know I need to change 25:31 and as he began to start changing me, 25:34 because I accepted His call and went out lo and behold, 25:38 my wife started seeing I was a true Christian. 25:43 I was on the process of becoming true. 25:46 I was on the starting line of becoming true. 25:49 I was on that journey and because I accepted the call 25:53 and because I left my familiar heredities 25:56 and moved forward. 25:59 That gave my wife the opportunity to say 26:02 something real is going on in your life Mike. 26:06 And, you know what, 26:07 I want to know what it is. 26:10 Today as we're closing, 26:12 has God been calling you out, 26:14 calling you out of your father's household, 26:17 calling you out of your kindred, 26:20 calling you into country, 26:22 spiritual country where He will bless you. 26:26 Friends I believe that call, the Holy Spirit 26:29 is knocking today on your heart 26:32 and he is telling you Jack come out, 26:37 Jim come out, Christina come out. 26:42 He is giving this call, because He wants to take you 26:46 and He wants to make you a light in this perishing world. 26:51 He wants others to fall in love with Jesus 26:54 through your life, that's why the call is there. 26:58 He wants to equip you with His oracles. 27:01 He wants to qualify you for His work. 27:04 But like Moses, we need to go from Egypt 27:08 into the land of Median for about 40 years. 27:12 Having work on our hearts, 27:13 having work on our minds and then say, 27:16 okay, you know what, now you're prepared 27:18 to be able to go back to your father's household 27:21 and you will be able to make a difference because 27:23 while in Median you learned that I'm your only source. 27:28 In fact you cannot even speak the language 27:31 that I'm gonna send you back to. 27:33 You're saying you can, but I'm gonna equip you 27:35 to even speak the language. 27:37 Today God's gonna equip you to speak the language. 27:40 He is gonna equip you to have you 27:43 be a light in a dark place. 27:45 He wants you to make Him your only source of light. 27:50 Will you allow Him to have His Son shine through you? |
Revised 2014-12-17