The Generational Echo

In this message, Ana-Grace reflects on the life of Abraham and the costly obedience that marked not only his own story, but generations after him. Through Genesis 22 and Luke 3, we see how one surrendered “yes” to God can carry a spiritual inheritance far beyond what we may ever see. This sermon invites us to trust God in the tension between promise and fulfilment, to remain attentive to His voice, and to remember that the prize of obedience is not influence or legacy alone, but deep friendship with Jesus.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And Anna Grace is a young woman of creativity, empathy, great wisdom, and uh is a is a great light of joy in our lives and has been a huge blessing to the people of our church, um, to the teenagers of our church, and just brings uh just brings so much energy. I you know, it's probably not the right word, right? But it's close. Just so much energy and optimism and joy into any room that she walks in. And I know we're going to be blessed today. And I told her that there would be a great tone of leaning in and reverence for the word. And so I hope you don't leave me hanging today and we give Anna a good opportunity to share what's on her heart to share. And so, can we give her a warm local church welcome as she comes up?

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Thank you. Thank you, Levi, thank you, Nads. Um just looking around. No, no cousins. Um, cool. Um to everyone who may be visiting today, uh, know my hide in my key to matokine. Uh welcome to this house that I call home. Um I always lean in a little closer uh when I hear somebody's story um or just feel like they're they're welcoming into their world a little bit. Um so for those who I haven't met, um I'm Anna Grace. Uh everyone here calls me Anna. Um in August, I would have been married to Corbin, my husband, for two years. Two years. Two yeah. Um and yeah, just local, local church feels in many ways just like an extended family to us. Um we currently don't have any parents or um family in the bay, and so the local church has really like filled that void for us in many ways. Uh my brother's part of local, he's he's currently in Tatanaki, uh, where my family live. We grew up in Auckland, then we moved to Tatanaki, and then I moved to Torang Moana, so I did like a zigzag of the North Island. Um and I think it's worth mentioning that the last time I um preached on a Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon today, but I I think I was about 15. We went to a Baptist church in um in Baalblock and Tatanaki, and I was meant to speak for like 20 minutes, and I spoke for, I was probably meant to speak for like 20 to half an hour, and I spoke for seven minutes. Um and so, and an elder after he came up to me and he was like, I just want you to remember that next time you speak, you can actually breathe. Um and so today the hope is that I I breathe and enjoy it. Um but yeah, Kelder. Um I haven't got my contacts in, haven't got my glasses in on purpose because one, I think I'll cry because I'm a crier, and two, um, I kind of don't want to see your faces. Um just in case uh you make me a little nervous. Um but today I really want to talk to you about um the generational echo of the spirit um through our lives. Um we're gonna look at the life of Abraham and the impact of his yes and obedience to the Lord. Um, then we're gonna fast forward and look at Luke 3, and which just gives this beautiful account of the 42 generations that stand between Abraham and Jesus. Um and I just think that that is a powerful example of the fruit of one person's faith and the impact of that for generations after him. Um but lately I've I've found myself um just really reflecting upon the the spiritual inheritance I walk in. Um and they're not here today, but I thought that because it's Mother's Day, it's on it's it's um it's fitting that I honor them. Um and this Bible that I have here today, this gorgeous worn leather Bible, um, is my nanas, uh my grandma, and she encountered the Lord later in life, um, but she discovered intimacy with the Lord, this passion for prayer, this passion for Him, um, and her faith has changed the trajectory of my family line. And if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't, I I really don't think I would be where I am today. Um so my my grandma brought my papa to church, and then my mum brought my dad to church, and so I have some wacky near tours in my family who have brought, yeah, just just welcomed people in. But yeah, my my life is just changed because of the faith and the the walk that they have with the Lord. Um and so I honor you today if if you may be the first in your family line who have said yes to the Lord, um whether you're you have parents before you or or grandparents before you, or whether you're just like I can think of some of our youth girls who have just like they're they're making a stand and they're the first in their family line. And I think today God really wants to I think offer perspective that there's so much more than just our lives, and yeah, we we re that there really is like this generational echo of the Holy Spirit when we decide to say yes to the Lord. Um but I'm studying theology as well, um, so I geek out at a little bit of the context. We're gonna be looking at Genesis 22 today, but I'm gonna give you some context of Genesis and the life of Abraham. Um and I've been sitting in this passage for a while now, for the last few years. I've probably read it more than 50 times. Um, I've been stumped on it, I've curiosity has bubbled up, uh, been brought to tears, um, but most importantly, my faith has been stirred by it. Um, and some of us may know it, um, but here we go. Uh in Genesis 12, um the Lord said to Abraham, his name wasn't yet Abraham yet, he said, Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I'll show you. And I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All families on the earth will be blessed through you. So God first calls Abraham to leave Haran, where his father died, and travel to Canaan. Um, Haran is modern-day Turkey and it's on the border of Syria. Um, and that's where he was. And then Canaan was south of Haran and is now modern-day Israel. So that's where he's moving to. Um and this this distance between the two is believed to be between 800 and 1,000 kilometers. Um, so it's important to note that Abraham wasn't only moving himself and his wife, he was moving like herds, servants, family members, flocks, and just like it was a it was a party of people that he was moving, 800 kilometers. And this was believed to take them two to three months on foot from one place to the next. Um, and this was this is a crazy ask. Like, if if that were me and God spoke to Corbin, and Corbyn says, God's asked me to move to Canaan. And and being a person of of that land, I'd say, you're joking. Like, you want us to walk two to three for two to three months on foot to this place because God's spoken to you. But but Abraham, oh Abraham, in verse 4 says that it he departs as soon as the Lord instructs him. And I just find that incredible. Um, and just a note, he was 75 years old when this took place. Fast forward two to three months, they arrive in Canaan, um, and time goes on, 10 years goes on, and he's now 85. And in Genesis 15, it says God makes a covenant with Abraham and promises that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars. I think we have to bear in mind that at this point, Abraham's 85, married to Sarai at that time. He hadn't, he doesn't have a child. He has no children, and God says that I will make a covenant with you, and your descendants will be as numerous as the stars. Descendants means children, he has no children. So this is a crazy promise from the Lord. Uh, fast forward to 99 years old, and God appears again and establishes a covenant of circumcision. Abraham's name is choose um changed to Abraham, and it means the father of many nations. Uh, God promises Sarah, his wife's name was Sarai, now Sarah, um, that she will have a son within a year. Abraham's 99 years old, and Sarah's like 90 years old. At 100 years old, one year later, just as God promised, Abraham sees the fulfillment of this, and Isaac is born. At 90 years old, Sarah was. And she gives birth to a son. That just that just astounds me. Um, we're now gonna flick open. If you have your Bibles, um flick open with me to Genesis 22, um, and we're gonna see what the Lord said. This is this is where we're landing. Um, and this I think will just that context gives us, I think it provides some weight for what God is about to ask Abraham. Like he is about to ask Abraham a weighty ask, and that that 25 years that Abraham has asked, and I just can't imagine how how much he must have wanted a son. And in that like cultural context, if you weren't able to bear children, it was like a sh it was like shame on your family name. And so they're they've got this promised son that they've prayed for, I bet, and God has promised for 25 years. At 100 years old, he sees a fulfillment of this promise, and then God says this. Uh, Genesis 22, he says, Later on, God tested Abraham's faith and obedience. Abraham, God called. Yes, he replied, here I am. Verse 2 says, Take your son, your only son, yes, Isaac. I love that he had to like, God had to clarify. Take your son, yes, your only son, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you. The next morning Abraham got up early. Like the obedience of this man is crazy. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped wood to build a fire for a burnt offering, and set out for the place where God had told him to go. On the third day of the journey, Abraham saw the place in the distance. Stay here with the donkey, Abraham told the young men. The boy and I will travel a little farther farther. We will worship there, and when we will and then we will come right back. Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders, while himself carried while himself carried the knife and the fire. As the two of them went on together, Isaac said, Father, yes, my son, Abraham replied, We have the wood and the fire, said the boy, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice? God will provide a lamb, my son, Abraham answered. And they both went on together. When they arrived at the place where God had told Abraham to go, he built an altar and placed the wood on it. Then he tied Isaac up and laid him on the altar over the wood, and Abraham took the knife and lifted lifted it up to kill his son as a fat sacrifice to the Lord. At that moment the angel of the Lord shouted to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham, yes, he answered, I'm listening. Lay down the knife, the angel said. Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from me. And then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the hook in the horns in a bush, so he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering on the altar in place of his son. Abraham named the place, The Lord will provide. This name has now become a proverb on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. Verse 15 says, Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. This is what the Lord says, Because you have obeyed me and not withheld even your beloved son, I swear by my own self that I will bless you richly, I will multiply your descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the shore. There they will conquer the enemies, and through your descendants all nations of the earth will be blessed, all because you have obeyed me. Then they returned to Abraham's young men, travelled home to Bathsheba, where Abraham lived for quite some time. I just find this amazing that Abraham has waited so so long for this son a hundred years old. And then God asks him to sacrifice him, and Abraham says, with his actions, I will go. And they go to the mountain, and Abraham is about to sacrifice his son, and then God comes in and provides a lamb. And I don't think God actually intended for Isaac to be sacrificed, but he was looking at the position of Abraham's heart, and he and Abraham proved to God through this faith, this wild faith, to trust that God would provide a sacrifice in place of his son, but he still goes on and he trusts the Lord. Um I think that we're all welcomed into this incredible journey of trust and faith that Abraham goes on. Um Abraham, I mean, God, has promised some, like we've just seen, has promised some big, bold, and really outrageous promises. Like to conceive a son at that age and then to actually birth a son is laughable. And Sarah laughs because she just thought, like, who am I to bear a son at this age? And so we're brought in to see this beautiful tension of what God's promised and things that God's actually spoken over Abraham and Sarah's life, yet they haven't seen it come to pass, or they don't see it come to pass for 25 years. And so I just am like, wow, like to have believed that God is the man of that he's he is who he says he is, that he isn't changeable, that he is faithful. There's this tension that Abraham and Sarah in of at 85, at 99, at all of those ages, you will have a son, your descendants will be as numerous as a sky, but he still hasn't seen it. That tension I think is like beautiful, and I think God wants to speak to some of us today. Um, and I know myself included of really believing and wanting things that God has spoken over my life, wanting things that God has spoken over Corbyn's life, and they just like haven't come to pass yet. And so it feels like we're stuck in this tension in between what God's spoken and then what could be, yet we haven't seen it yet, but he is faithful. And so I think, yeah, today God just really wants to remind you, and for a for maybe you find yourself in the same position. You're like, God's spoken some big promises over your life, yet you haven't seen them come to pass. I think he really wants to breathe hope upon you again. Um, I think he wants to breathe life upon dreams that you may have dreamt, dreamt with the Lord, or promises you really feel like he's spoken, but they haven't quite come to be yet. I think today God wants to author hope inside of your heart that you can trust him, that he is trustworthy of your heart. Um, he is the most trustworthy person to hold your heart. Um I think, secondly, there's this really fascinating correlation to for me between Abraham's obedience and then the Lord's blessing. Like the Bible clearly says, because you fear me and because you obeyed me, I will bless you. Um so I think there's a an invitation for us all to, like Abraham, live a life walked closely with the Lord. And I think I I know that a life walked closely with the Lord requires obedience, it requires sacrifice, and it's costly. It is so costly to live a life walked closely with the Lord, but the beautiful promise of that is the promise is friendship with the Lord. A life walked closely with the Lord, with sacrifice, with with obedience, and because it's costly, I he promises friendship. And I don't know about you, but I so desire to have friendship, like deep, deep intimacy with the Lord. I long, like Abraham, to know his voice at a hundred years old. I long to have friendship with the Lord. Um the one, and we're talking about a God who created heaven and earth. We're talking about Jesus who sustains everything. This same God longs to have relationship with you. Does that blow your mind? Like the one right now in heaven in Revelation 4, I always talk about this because it fascinates me, but that God gives us a glimpse of the throne room of heaven, and right now, as we are sitting here today, Jesus is being worshipped, and 24 elders are casting their crowns at his feet because he's the only one worthy to be on the throne. He's seated at the right hand of the Father right now. And maybe if we were just silent for a moment, you'd be able to just hear the angels saying, Holy, holy, holy are you, Lord. That same God, that same Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, seated at the right hand of the Father right now, longs for friendship with you. Yeah, I just love that at a hundred years old. Abraham was attentive to the Lord's voice. Like he knew his voice. Like, imagine if he didn't know his voice, and Isaac could have been sacrificed, but he knew his voice. He was attentive to his voice. And I'm 22, but I've known the Lord for majority of my life. And even now, I think back to when I was young, even though I'm young, um about just like the the love and the fire in my eyes, and the the like how zealous I was for the Lord, I pray that I would still have that same love, that same just fire in my bones for the Lord for the rest of my life. And I really believe that although Abraham was a hundred years old, the fact that he was so attentive to the Lord's voice, he he knew him. He like he was his friend. And may we not forget the sound of the Lord's voice, even when we're a hundred years old. Like, may we all hope to know his voice at that age. May we remain zealous for the Lord despite being old. Um, and I feel like recently um the Lord's been really um correcting me and like refining me in uh in many ways, but I've found that because I've known the Lord for what feels like a long time, um, I've become familiar and arrogant and like prideful in many ways of hearing stories like maybe Genesis 22 that are well known, if you've grown up in church, or the Beatitudes, or just whatever story. It may be like because of the familiarity, it's kind of bred this like complacency with the word. But I I feel like in the kindness of the Lord I've been corrected, and I I don't want to be like that. And maybe you're sitting in this chair today, and maybe you've like really fresh, freshly have faith and um zealous. That's awesome. But maybe you've been sitting, you're sitting in this chair and you've been sitting at church for the last 20, 30, 40 years, and these stories are familiar, and sometimes with familiarity, we just like we lose the the weight or the significance of them. Like we have this family batch that's been in our family for the last 25 years in Feng Mata. Um, actually longer than 25 years, I don't even know how long it's been in our family for. But I have grown up going there since I was literally a newborn. Um, and the view in Pong Muta is gorgeous. Clark Island, Donut Island, just phenomenal. Just gorgeous, gorgeous scenes. I think one year it was voted the most beautiful beach in New Zealand. Um, and this view for me is so familiar, and sometimes I forget walking down to Beach Access 8 by the Surf Club to the left of the Surf Club. I forget looking out at Donut Island, at Clark Island, at the beauty of it because it's so familiar. And so I think I really think that there's room for all of us to maybe it's repent, but maybe it's thank the Lord for that you that you you do recognize his voice. Um, but yeah, I just think that there's always room to remain humble and um humble to the to the Lord and his voice and his word because the gospel is the good news and it has the power to transform our lives if we let it. And I don't think God's limited, don't hear what I'm not saying, I don't think he's limited to our pride. Because look at what Saul and who then became Paul, look at him. But I just think that to continue to say yes to the Lord is important, and to continue to say yes to the transforming power of the gospel is really important, and to do that, that it requires us to walk in humility, um, requires us to acknowledge who he is, to recognize that he is the King of Kings, he is seated on the throne, and he wants to talk to you. Um I just want to look at a couple other scriptures that really speak to this correlation between fear of the Lord or obedience to the Lord and friendship. Um, Deuteronomy 7.9 says, Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who fear him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. Psalm 103, verse 17 says, But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children. Proverbs 13, 22 says, A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous. Psalm 112, verse 2 says, His offspring will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wow. Um we're gonna talk flip to Luke 3. Um, and if you have your Bibles, flip to Luke 3. But it all seems that we're not a Bible, we don't we don't bring our hard Bibles to church. Go go get your Bibles, guys. Um I'm the same. I'm just like open my Bible up on my phone, it's convenient. Um let's be a Bible church. Um, anyway. Uh lastly, the whole the whole point of my message, I think, is that in Luke 3, I'm gonna flip there right now since you guys aren't, I'm gonna flip them. Um in Luke 3, we see this magnificent generational echo of the spirit. Um, I flipped past Luke 3. And the other night when I was preparing for this and I was sitting in my lounge, um I opened these these pages, and I don't know about you, but for a while I used to just flick past these pages because I I didn't understand the significance of it. I I don't know how to pronounce half of these names. Like I I flick past them, but then when I read about Genesis 22, and then I I understand that there was 42 generations separating Abraham from Jesus, that is three sets of 14 generations, and then I look at these pages, I just am so moved that Abraham said yes to the Lord, and these names come after him. Thirty, three sets of fourteen generations separating Abraham from Jesus. Forty-two generations. That is a lot of life, that is a lot of years, that is a lot of people, that is a huge impact. Forty-two generations. And I wonder whether Abraham realized the extent of his impact when he said yes to the Lord on that mountain years and years and years ago. I wonder. I wonder whether he realized the influence he would have, like King David, not a perfect man, but a man after God's own heart, came from this line. Moses, Joseph, like these heroes of the faith, come from the line of Abraham, and we see in Genesis 22 that God says, Kings will come from your line. And the king of kings, although he was fully God, he was fully man, he was the incarnate son, he was known as the son of Joseph, and he came from this line. I wonder whether Abraham knew that that Jesus, the Messiah, that everyone waits for, and some think he hasn't come. I wonder whether they he would have known that that Jesus would come from its line. I want to encourage you all today, and I'm speaking to myself, that your yes and your obedient to obedience to the Lord's call upon your life has the ability to mark generations. That today, you guys, each of you sitting in your seat today, have the ability to uh influence 42 more, more and more and more generations that come after you. I really believe that your faith and your friendship with the Lord could change the trajectory of your family line. I look at my grandma and I think, man, my life has been incredibly impacted because of her yes. And today, you guys sitting in here today, whether you know the Lord or whether you don't, if you if you were to walk with him and continue to say yes for the rest of your life, I just think of the incredible impact that that could have and will have and is having. I couldn't care less about the financial inheritance that I might one day get when my parents pass away. I'm far more interested in the spiritual inheritance that they have passed down to me and will pass down to me. The intangible and the tangible blessings, the promises, the legacies of faith that have been passed down from my grandma to my mum and now to me. My children will be blessed because of my grandma's yes, and our children's children and our children's children's children. That is really what matters. When I look at Luke 3, just something in my heart leaps. It's stirred, it's challenged, it's moved. Because just like Abraham, because the Bible says that God is the same today, tomorrow, and forever. So the God we know today is the God Abraham knew. And his yes to that God is our yes to that God. And when we say yes to him, a life yielded to him, a life surrendered to him, beautiful things will happen. And the goal isn't, I don't think, to conquer the world or become powerful and transform everything around us. The goal and the prize is friendship with the Lord, intimacy with Jesus, and naturally the overflow of that will be powerful, it will be beautiful, and it will change lives, but that isn't the goal. The prize is Jesus, and we already have him. Psalm 27 says, I am confident I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord, be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. I'm just gonna pray and then hand it on, but Lord, we thank you for this invitation to friendship. We thank you for the life of Abraham and the example of Abraham's life. We thank you. Lord, I thank you for people sitting here today that maybe they're caught in this tension of what you might have promised or spoken over their lives, but they haven't quite seen it come to pass, Lord. I pray that you would author hope into their hearts today. I pray, Lord, that you would meet them in that in that tension, in that awkward middle ground. I pray, Lord, that that that tension wouldn't be wouldn't be wasted. I thank you, Lord, for grandmas and mums, dads and grandpas. I thank you for the impact of their faith and the impact it has on the generations that come. Lord, I honor and I bless those in here today who have said yes to you and maybe none of their family believe in you. Lord, I thank you. I thank you, Lord, that their sacrifice to walk closely with you blesses you and will change the trajectory of their family line. God, today I pray that people would take a step outside of their insular walls and realize the greatest story that you've invited them into. God, I pray that you would author hope into people's hearts today. I pray, Lord, for people who are sitting in these seats and feeling tired, their faith feels tired, God. Breathe upon them afresh. God, I pray for this invitation to friendship with you, and I just thank you that you long and you desire to have intimacy with us. Open our eyes, God, to your nearness and your accessibility. Thank you, Jesus. We give you glory, we give you praise, we join in with heaven as they sing holy, holy, holy. In Jesus' name. Amen.