Believing the Unbelievable, with Joy: February 25, 2018

Sermon Notes

TITLE: Believing the Unbelievable, with Joy

TEXT: Genesis17:1-7, 15-16

17 1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

15God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

TITLE: HOW GOD TRANSFORMS DESTINIES

INTRODUCTION

1. GOD APPEARS TO US

1. GOD WORKS WITH US FOR OUR OWN GOOD

III. GOD’S WORK IN OUR LIVES SPILLS OVER INTO THE LIVES OF OTHERS

CONCLUSION

Billy Graham | 1918 – 2018

Billy Graham was a man of deep conviction whose passionate heartbeat was for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
— R. ALBERT MOHLER JR. —

ON SIN AND SOCIETY

We have confused liberty with license – and we are paying the awful price. We are a society poised on the brink of self-destruction.

From a 1996 speech in the U.S. Capitol after receiving the Congressional Gold Medal.

ON INTEGRATING CHURCHES

The most segregated hour of the week is still 11 o’clock Sunday morning.

From Reader’s Digest, 1960.

ON HIS ONE REGRET

I would have steered clear of politics. I’m grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to. But looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn’t do that now.

From a January 2011 email interview with Christianity Today.

ON HIS OWN DEATH

I’m looking forward to death. I’ll be very happy to get out of this body and into the new world that’s been prepared. It’ll be a feeling of tremendous joy and relief and rest. The Bible says I have not seen nor heard, nor has there entered the mind of man, what God has in store for us in the future life.

From a 1994 interview with Life magazine.

Do I fear death? No. I look forward to death, with great anticipation. I am looking forward to seeing God face to face. And that could happen any day.

From his responses to questions from Newsweek in 2005, around the time of his last crusade, in New York.

Billy and Ruth Graham

1955: Graham waves farewell from the liner Liberte as he prepares to leave from New York on a European preaching; Ruth came to see him off. AP

Suggested Text: Wacker, Grant (2014) [2006]. America’s Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation. Harvard University Press. Jossey-Bass.

Suggested Learning Links:

Duke University – http://cccdc.com//today.duke.edu/2018/02/grant-wacker-how-billy-graham-prepared-death

First Things – http://cccdc.com//www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2018/02/the-legacy-of-billy-graham