Sunday Sermons

Pastor Mark Lovell - January 26, 2025

Creators and Guests

ML
Host
Mark Lovell

What is Sunday Sermons?

This is the sermon audio podcast of Sam Jones Methodist Church located in Cartersville, Georgia.

Mark Lovell:

So our message this morning is the blessing, God's call on your life. And some of you remember me from, like, ten years ago. I I think I see. Yeah. Well, I was I was here from 2013 to 2016 helping in leading worship and all.

Mark Lovell:

And, some of you never heard me preach, and that's alright. I think you you're okay. But, I just wanna usually, when you do your first sermon, you get to share a few things, but we don't have a lot of time. And Latham gave me this really long passage to preach on. And, but I just wanna share a little bit about my I have, like, four goals in every sermon.

Mark Lovell:

The first one and most important one is that you stay awake. That's good. And I try to stay awake too. So far, I'm I'm o for forever and falling asleep. I haven't fall I've never fallen asleep in one of my sermons.

Mark Lovell:

And, so I wanna say something that's interesting, but more importantly, I want you to hear a spiritual truth and learn something. And then most importantly, the goal of every message should be that we leave here more like Jesus than we were when we got here. So if you've known pastor Latham for very long, you know, he's really into order. You know, he likes to have everything. You know, he loves like, if he has a meeting, it's gonna have an agenda, and everything's gonna be done, you know, just just right.

Mark Lovell:

And he just, like, preaching on the Garden of Eden and the creation story, man. I mean, he just loves that. Because it's all about order. Order not a disorder, you know, the whole thing is about that. And I'm more I just like context is, like, really big for me.

Mark Lovell:

I I wanna make sure that the Bible story is in within context. And, sometimes the Bible, it's, you know, it's written it's written for us, but it's not written to us. It's written a long time ago, and there's all kind of different genres in the bible. And it helps us to know the context. And we have passed through a lot of stuff through the book of Genesis.

Mark Lovell:

We've talked about creation. We had the fall of man. And then in your reading, we've we've read about the flood and the Tower Of Babel. And the first eleven chapters of Genesis are about these four big events. Only one of them is good.

Mark Lovell:

Creation is really good. The Bible says it's very good, but then our response is that we disobey and we see the fall. But the fall comes with a promise. It's the promise that the seed of the woman will one day crush the seed of the serpent. And while we may not while they may not have understood that, we see that in that promise is the first promise of deliverance, and which was all ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Mark Lovell:

And then in the flood, the people had gotten so bad that God destroyed the whole earth except for eight people. But he gave the promise of the rainbow that he would never do that again. And the ancients, when they saw that bow, they knew the that the bow was a sign of war and God put his bow down. That'll preach. I could preach on that for a while, but we have to keep going.

Mark Lovell:

And then the Tower Of Babel. So people, they said, man, God flooded us out. That's not what happened again. We're gonna we're gonna make a name for ourselves. We're gonna get together.

Mark Lovell:

We're gonna make this tower, and we're gonna bring the gods down to us. And then God does come down. And he confounds their languages and he scatters them. And then God moves from dealing with the whole world to one family. Abraham.

Mark Lovell:

So, as you heard the the sermon about God bringing order into the world. We see that the the world is water in Genesis one two. That water is on the face of the deep. It's a water world. And for the anxious, this was chaotic.

Mark Lovell:

They weren't like us. They weren't looking forward to every summer going to Panama City or Destined or wherever it is you go to. Way. Even the Sea Of Galilee, which I think if I can remember it's like 80 feet deep or 180 feet deep, none of them had ever been to the bottom. There was no Jacques Cousteau back then, right?

Mark Lovell:

And so the great thing is that God in the new heavens and new earth, there's no sea. God has taken the chaos away. And that helps us to see context on a level that a story that Latham and I have shared together many times. We took a a class from a professor. His name was doctor Pacini.

Mark Lovell:

Now doctor Pacini was a very brilliant man. Sometimes he was too brilliant for those of us in his class. I think Latham understood him better than I did because he always got better grades than I did. But in this class, we'd been in about three weeks and I was getting a little concerned about my grades. So I go to Doctor Pacini and I said, Doctor Pacini, I'm concerned about my grade in this class.

Mark Lovell:

He looked at me and he said, don't worry. It's gonna be alright. What did he mean? Did he mean he was gonna curve my grade? Did he mean like in the grand scheme of thing, my grand scheme of things that my life would work out okay and the class wasn't that important?

Mark Lovell:

Well, when the grades came out, I found out he did not curve my grade. Communicate in context. And so we've left the primeval time of humanity, and now we are Looking at the life of Abraham. And who was Abraham? Abraham was born in the tenth generation from Shem.

Mark Lovell:

So 10 generations after the flood. And Abraham's really an important guy. He's called the father of our faith. He's referred to in the Bible about 475 times in 475 verses. Every New Testament author talks about Abraham.

Mark Lovell:

He's not mentioned in any of the any of Peter's letters, but we're pretty sure according to ancient sources that Mark, the book of Mark is Peter's musings. His it was his telling of the story of Jesus, and he's mentioned there. So Abraham is like a really big deal. And he has, like a really adventurous life in a lot of ways. We don't really get to meet him until he's 75 years old.

Mark Lovell:

And God gives him this promise about being a nation and all those things. So he does a lot of good things. He's like a strong military leader at one point. He frees a lot. He goes to and fights against these other other cities and wins a battle.

Mark Lovell:

He's blessed by Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a a priest that is said to be that Christ is in the likeness of He has some bad things. He lies about being married to Sarah. And if you remember that in your reading, that that didn't work out really well. He fathers a child by someone who is not his wife thinking that that's going to be God's answer to his becoming a great nation.

Mark Lovell:

That wouldn't be good either. But he remains faithful in the, in the, in his belief in God. And he accomplishes a lot of things. And you know, he has like, you know, I was that little song do you remember that song when you were a little kid that you learned? Father Abraham had many sons.

Mark Lovell:

Many sons had father Abraham. You know it right? I see some nodding heads. Yes. So Abraham's a big deal.

Mark Lovell:

And we're gonna learn some lessons from him. As we're talking about the call and being a blessing, we see that God's call requires God's call requires God tells Abraham to leave his country and his people, and his father's household. And boy, there is a there's a lot to that because family in the ancient Near East, that's everything. The house of the father, everything is established through that. Same.

Mark Lovell:

Jesus, what does Jesus say? He says, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you That where I am, there you may be also. That's awesome.

Mark Lovell:

Like, heaven is not so much about a nice place to live, but it's being in the presence of God. Family was everything. He's called out. He's called away, and he's called to do some things for God. And God's call requires action.

Mark Lovell:

Even Isaiah forty thirty one that talks about waiting upon the Lord. It says, Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount it with wings as eagles. They shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.

Mark Lovell:

They will run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. So even while we're wait, we are supposed to be doing things in God's service.

Mark Lovell:

I

Mark Lovell:

see that. I I was raised you can raise your hand. Right. We all like getting money. We like things.

Mark Lovell:

We like when people say good things about us. We don't like when we're criticized or when we mess up. He's given several promises, but three that he's given here are that he would be a great nation, and that his name would be great, and that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. Those are some like really good blessings. And he was also he was very wealthy, by the way.

Mark Lovell:

And he was a very influential person. But he has given all of these blessings. Faithful, we will be blissed. Maybe not in the way that we think we should. God's plan for all of us is not that we are, like, rich and famous and have a super easy life.

Mark Lovell:

That is not what we're called to. But we will be blissed. First three reads this way, I will bless those who bless But Abraham didn't live to see all those He saw a little bit. He saw an inkling, but he didn't see the blessings that were to come. So now we're going to jump ahead about forty years.

Mark Lovell:

I'm saying that Abraham is about 15. We don't know exactly how old Isaac. We'll see the story of Isaac and Jacob. Isaac, the word that's used for Isaac there as being a lad, he's probably in his teens. But let's look at these this passage together.

Mark Lovell:

Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham? Here I am, he replied. Then God said, take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah. And there's a burnt offering on the mountain I will show you.

Mark Lovell:

Early the next morning, Abraham got up and loaded his story. And his

Mark Lovell:

son, Isaac. And there's a burnt offering on the mountain I will show you. Early the next morning, Abraham got up and loaded his story. And his son, Isaac. And

Mark Lovell:

He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. And when he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place that God had told him about. On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his story. Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.

Mark Lovell:

We will worship and then we will come back to you. -And then we will come back to you. -And then -And then -And then -And then

Mark Lovell:

-And then -And then -And then -And then -And then -And then -And then -And then -And then -And then -And

Mark Lovell:

then -And then -And then and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar and on top of the and then and then

Mark Lovell:

and then and then and then and then and then and then and then and then and then and then

Mark Lovell:

Angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven. Abraham, Abraham, here I am. And and and and and and and and and withheld from me your son, your only son. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of a sod.

Mark Lovell:

So Abraham called that place the Lord will provide. And to this day, it is said on that mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, I swear by myself declares the Lord that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies and through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me. Again, this is the word of God for the people of God.

Mark Lovell:

Thanks be to God. A lot of us like action. We like to move around. We like to do things. And we like that part of God's call.

Mark Lovell:

And we really like the blessing part. Man, bless me, Lord, bless me, Lord. Bless me, bless me, bless me. We like that. This is a hard part here.

Mark Lovell:

God's call comes a sacrifice. And Who is not That is not popular. My first sermon out of the box. He didn't assign me to preach on money and hell.

Mark Lovell:

But

Mark Lovell:

and it's true and we need to hear this. And there's a lot of encouragement in this, so hang on. It's gonna get a little bit less encouraging for a minute. Like that plan. You know, smooth sailing.

Mark Lovell:

God, don I'm getting old, but I don't need to hurt any more. That's one thing. When you get as you get older, you're very aware of your body, much more than when you're younger. When I was 10, I don't remember knowing that I had knees. But things come into our lives.

Mark Lovell:

David, right? So you know, you go through the shadow the valley of the shadow of death. That didn't sound good at all. And there's all these problems we have. We have problems with people we love, people that we deal with everyday.

Mark Lovell:

There's national problems, internet anyway, there's all these things. And in the binding of The latest and Bible Dictionary kind of sums it up and I kind of like it. It says, God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on an altar like a goat or a sheep. And And And And And And And And And pointed out.

Mark Lovell:

-The

Mark Lovell:

story. -The mystery messengers interfered, delivered Isaac, and recognized Abraham's fate. So, yeah, the angel there, if we had time, there's there's an angel of the Lord and then it's God himself, the angel. I believe it's, Jesus actually speaking out of heaven to Abraham. I don't have time to develop that either.

Mark Lovell:

I don't know what's going on in your life right now, but I know you've had trouble and problems. None of us are like maybe your life has been like there's this kid. So heard the story about this kid. He was normal in every way. Everything worked but he never said anything.

Mark Lovell:

He's one, he's, you know, not really very verbal. Two, three, four He never talks. He can respond. He does but he never says anything. Breakfast table, he's five years old, and he says, Mom, toast is burned.

Mark Lovell:

Man, they're like his family, they're like amazed. You talk. How come you never talked before? He said, Well, up until now, everything was just all right. Of sacrifice.

Mark Lovell:

And we know this, we sacrifice for our children. We sacrifice for our parents as they get older, and our grandparents, and We sacrifice for the people. We source, and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable Yeah. And therefore, they transform by the renewing of your mind. You may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of for you to lay down your life.

Mark Lovell:

And what is often said, and it's kind of funny, but the problem with the living sacrifice is it keeps crawling off the altar. And we do that sometimes, don't we?

Mark Lovell:

And we do

Mark Lovell:

that sometimes, don't we? But it's reasonable to give your life to Christ because of what he's done for you. And Christians are called to embrace tests as opportunity. James, he writes to the children of Israel. They are Christians now, but they're scattered abroad.

Mark Lovell:

He says, Count it all joy, brothers and sisters. When you fall into various trials, you get excited when you when your car breaks down. And when somebody does you wrong, when you get cut off in traffic Thank God I got cut off in traffic. How about the serious things in life?

Mark Lovell:

Things

Mark Lovell:

together for the good of those that love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. His plan is not like ours, he tells us in Isaiah. His ways are higher than ours. It's like Doctor Pacini, but on a lot higher level. Doctor Pacini was trying to pour something into my

Mark Lovell:

life that I just couldn't totally grasp. And he was doing it from my good. And he was

Mark Lovell:

doing it from my good. And he was doing it for my good. God loves you. Think about and he loves your friends, he loves your family, but he loves you. And he wants you to follow him.

Mark Lovell:

So one, and two, just one, and three, is this

Mark Lovell:

one poses,

Mark Lovell:

you know, we've seen the enemy and we or him are a lot of enemies. And sometimes we suffer because of the things we've done. But there's God wants to use in your life, and he wants to pull you through the problems and the trouble so that you can help somebody else. Second Corinthians, so

Mark Lovell:

and others. So I'm gonna ask

Mark Lovell:

you this morning. What is God calling you to do? With God's call comes great bliss.

Mark Lovell:

And God is wanting

Mark Lovell:

to move you to a different place. Here's the cool thing, though. When we sacrifice, God takes what we do, and he uses it. Abraham's like this great example to us of faithfulness and faith. In forty years, like he's about 115 I said, you know, in forty years he's learned something about God.

Mark Lovell:

What have you learned? What do you know about God? He was able to trust God. He knew even though that his son, he told the the guys there, his servants, he said, we're going to worship and we're coming back. Strong faith.

Mark Lovell:

Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. God is calling us to give up some things, some sinful things in our lives, and he's calling us to embrace So I'm gonna draw you today.

Mark Lovell:

So I'm gonna draw you today. So I'm gonna

Mark Lovell:

draw you today. Let's pray to and you've been good to every one of us. Better than we even Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your goodness.

Mark Lovell:

Thank you for your Thank you for your calling. Help us to move. Help us to experience your blessing. And Lord, help us to know what it is