Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”
Our Bible verse for today: “I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” Genesis 12:2 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Abraham was a man of faith and action.”
Abraham was not a perfect man, but in the estimation of God he was a great man. Abraham was great by Godly standards for two reasons. One reason was that he was a man of great faith. But the other reason he was great was because he was a man of action. His faith wasn’t something he merely talked about. It wasn’t even something he just quietly practiced in private. Abraham lived his faith. You could see it in the things he did.
Great men and women of God are people of action. They do things. First and foremost, they pray. Far too many Christians use the phrase “I’ll pray for you” as a convenient way to end an uncomfortable conversation, but then they often don’t pray for the person. The most important action you can take on someone else’s behalf is to really pray for them. Some of the greatest men and women of God that I have ever known were great because they were mighty prayer warriors.
But great men and women of God act on their faith in other ways too. We see it in Abraham’s life when he generously allowed his nephew Lot to have the better parcel of land (Genesis 13:9). We see it again when Lot had been taken captive by an enemy army in Genesis 14:12. Abraham quickly gathered his soldiers and set off to rescue his nephew. No wringing of his hands, no whining about how unfair it was, Abraham simply and quickly acted.
We see the action behind Abraham’s faith most notably in Genesis 22:2-14 when he took his only son Isaac and obediently offered him as a sacrifice to the Lord. That was a mighty act of faith demonstrated by real and meaningful action. Abraham knew that whatever God had planned was better than whatever he had planned.
How we act, more than just what we say, reveals what we really believe about God. Abraham demonstrated his faith in God by his actions because that’s what great men and women of God do. I encourage you to be a man or woman of action too.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 