Our first reading is from the 15^th chapter of Genesis beginning at the 1^st verse.

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 toward 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.

Then he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess." But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates."

Good morning – today we’re continuing to talk about our Lenten theme: “Getting close to God through Jesus”.

On Ash Wednesday we talked about “Making Room” – that if we want to get close to God we need to “make room” in our lives.

Many of us are so busy that it isn’t that we’re doing “bad things” – often we have many “good choices” – but if we want to get close to God then we need to make the “best choice” – the choice to make some room for God.

Last week we talked about how temptation and distractions can pull us away from God.

We looked at Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness – how Jesus withstood the test of physical, psychological and spiritual temptations.

We looked at how Jesus did it so we might learn how to do it – not that we won’t fail, we’re not perfect like Jesus – but so that we can succeed more and in doing so realize how close God is to us.

Now those two messages have a huge assumption behind them – maybe you’ve already thought of it. 

The assumption is that God wants you to be close to Him.

Last week I talked about how our dog Thor loves to be close to Beth – Beth also loves Thor to be close to her – she invites him up to lay on couch and to put his head in her lap.

God’s Desire – Do you think God wants to be close to YOU?

Let’s make this very personal, “Do you think God wants “Dave” to be close to Him – to “hang out with Him””?

I believe the answer is YES; you might ask how can I know?

Let’s look at our first reading, it’s from Genesis (you can follow along in your sermon outline)

I always encourage us to know the context – or where we are in the Bible?

The Context – We’re in Genesis, and actually we are pretty early in the story of God revealing Himself to humans!

• In Chapters 1-5 God creates the universe, Adam & Eve, The Fall, Cain and Abel and Adam’s descendents to Noah.

• Chapters 6-11 The Flood, the Generations after Noah, Humans trying again to be like God and God scatters them.

• Chapter 12 we meet Abram
• You might know him as Abraham – when God first begins interacting with him, his name is Abram which means exalted father, and in chapter 17 of Genesis God is going to rename him Abraham which means father of many.
• Abram meets God when he is 75; in this story he is close to 90.

• In Chapters 13-14 we learn about Abram’s life so far; he is successful.

So that is the context.

The Main Point

God is serious about you – about knowing you – He will do whatever it takes so you know that He Loves You.

What does the text say?

In verses 2 &3 Abram cries out to God; it has been a quite a few years since God calling Abram and God’s plan isn’t happening in his life.

• Abram has his hopes high – for nearly 15 years.

• Abram has been successful in everything but one – offspring.

In verses 4 & 5 God reminds Abram of His vision for him – in fact He makes it bigger

"Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be."

 – that Abram’s descendant’s will by as numerous as the stars.

• God is unwavering in His Plan and His Commitment

§         In the face of complaining – God reassures Abram and lets him in on how big the plan is.

In verse 6 Abram’s reaction is one for the ages.

DON’T MISS THIS: People will look back for centuries on this moment.

 – in the face of all the “data” around him, his age, the length of time he and his wife have been trying to have children – in the face of all the “data”, Abram’s believes God!

This moment is a huge moment in the history of the world – in face of hopelessness a person displays faith in a God that the world has long forgotten.

Abram’s faith pleases God and God goes onto tell Abram some more of His, God’s, plan.

"I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess."

It’s interesting though, Abram while being faithful still has some questions, look at verse.

"O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?"

And God doesn’t get impatient – no in fact God does a most amazing thing.

He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates."

So what did God just do?

He’s got Abram cutting animals in halve and laying them opposite each other so the blood runs down a trough – and then Abram falls asleep and there’s the whole “smoking pot” thing?

What is going on?

This was the way in the Old Testament that 2 kings would make a covenant.  They would cut the animals in half and the lesser king would walk through the trough of blood as a way of his signing onto the covenant – symbolically saying, “May this happen to me if I fail to keep up my end of the bargain – may I be torn in two”.

Pretty serious contract language, eh?

But the amazing thing that happens here is that God, symbolized by the smoking pot and the flaming torch, walks through the blood.

God says, “May, I, The Almighty, be torn in two, if this covenant does not come to pass”.

So that is “What is says”, but What does it mean?

It means that: GOD IS SERIOUS ABOUT BEING CLOSE TO PEOPLE, ABOUT BEING CLOSE TO YOU.

If fact we know that Abram and his offspring didn’t keep their part of the Covenant, they abandoned God.

The story of the Old Testament shows humankind over and over again abandoning God, God calling people back to Him, they come back, but then a few generations go by and they wander away again and worship gods.

Then God calls again and the entire process repeats – over and over.

And so the descendents of Abram – the Jewish people – are waiting for God to make them a “great nation”.

They view the world as being in two parts: those that will be a part of this great nation – those of Jewish descent – and those who won’t be part of it – the Gentiles – that is their view.

And at just the right time God sends Jesus.

And what happens to Jesus?  WE, the human race, Jews and Gentiles, reject Him.

He is stretched out upon the Cross, arms pulled apart, torn in two, in order that the Covenant might be fulfilled.

And here we are in Lent, preparing to celebrate the Week when Jesus will go into Jerusalem, and through His Death and Resurrection, make us – Jew & Gentile, male & female, slave & free – all people – part of God’s family – if we like Abram, believe in faith.

WOW!  Isn’t this amazing?

So, How do we apply this lesson?

Lesson #1 – God is faithful

• Are you at the “end of your rope?”
• That He is seriously faithful and that He will do whatever it takes to encourage you to Love Him.

Lesson #2 – Faithfulness pleases God

• Have you for years now been waiting on a promise God gave you – don’t’ give up – hold onto your faith.
• Make sure it is something God is offering, and not something we want – the story of Abram is a story of God calling him.
• Be faithful to what God calls you too.

Lesson #3 – God will listen to your concerns

• Bring them to God, “O, Lord how may I know…?”
• God will reassure you.

Let’s pray: Almighty God we thank you for loving us so much, for sending your Son Jesus to fulfill the Covenant and to make a way for us to be your children.  Father through your Holy Spirit fill us with faith and love in You who lives and reigns One God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.