The Reading
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’But Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, ‘You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.’ But the word of the Lord came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.’ He brought him outside and said, ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
The Message
I am continuing to preach without a manuscript and I am still trying to figure out how to format and post audio so I will share a summary of my sermon. (If you want audio, just send me an email to stjacobuspastor@gmail.com and I will send it out),
This morning I talked about 2 main ideas;
1- That Abram believed the Lord and it was reckoned to him as righteous. This is something that St Paul picks up on in his letters and that Martin Luther often looks to. Abram is not made righteous because of his works or obedience to the law, he is made righteous by trusting in God's promises.
2- When Abram is first told "your reward will be great", he doubts that God could give him the only thing he wants. Abram assumed the reward would be gold, land or fame (which he was too old to spend or care for). Instead God gives him the impossible, an heir. We are invited to have big dreams as the people of God, that we will do things that matter
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