2 Fathers, 2 Covenants - Mark Lassey - Kingdomcity

CONNECTING welcome to church wherever you are i am so glad that you joined us i'm mark lassie and i'm part of the team here at kingdom city and i am so excited just last week i was watching some tv with my wife we were watching this show called the living room and it's a great show it's one of the family shows home improvements and they have a bunch of segments but there was one segment that really captured my attention it's a story of a family that was in sydney and they had two daughters and over the covert season when there's been so much lockdowns and isolations they took the opportunity these two young daughters to do some baking they baked all day and the reason why they baked is they wanted to give their neighbors something just to say that they care not only did they take the time to do this baking but they also wrote these handwritten letters i was so impressed i said to my wife how on earth do you get kids to do that type of thing they also not only did baking and wrote handwritten letters they actually paid for all the products that made the baked goods of their own they worked hard they did homework to make the money to do i was like this is incredible how do you get kids to do those i looked at my boys and said boys you are underperforming we've got to get our acts together but it didn't take long before i realized what was happening why these girls were the way they were because the whole segment was actually about their parents these parents were incredible people every single saturday night this family opened up their doors to the community and they fed not five or ten but fifty to sixty strangers friends family neighbors anybody that wanted to come could come and have a meal and as these family began to share of why they did it and how much joy it brought to them i realized that these daughters weren't just a random byproduct of their own goodness but actually it was just daughters that were reflecting the culture of the house daughters that were taught by the generosity of the mum and the dad in fact at one point the tv reporter asked the mum what's your dream what would you love to do and i was thinking man maybe it was get the home renovations that they were go on a holiday she said you know what i'd love i'd love to provide hair pieces to mums and women that are going through chemotherapy it was a beautiful moment but it's just a moment that reflected this couple's heart these parents heart at the same time i've looked at the world in which we lived and seen the state of anger and anxiety and fear of violence i've seen people breaking families apart and i thought to myself the same thought i've had about these girls how did we get here but the reality is it doesn't happen by accident it happens by design today i want to talk about how god wants to bless you by design in fact i want to contrast two covenants two incredible covenants that god himself spoke to two fathers two fathers about who they are and who they're raising two covenants that i believe will speak straight to us as not only parents but as connect leaders as leaders in our home as business owners wherever you are because our job as followers of jesus is to be generational thinkers is to think how is my world impacting on the people that are to come so let's have a read of genesis chapter 22. this is a covenant that god made to a man called abraham abraham is known as the father of faith a godly man and it says this blessing i will bless you this is god himself speaking to abraham what a great opening line blessing i will bless you and multiplying i will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the gates of their enemy and in your seed all the nations shall of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice how amazing is that that god says to abraham man i'm going to bless you in such a way that one blessing isn't enough i'm gonna bless your blessing and i'm gonna multiply your multiplication i can't help but get excited when god speaks like that it's like whatever you think whatever you imagine multiply on the other hand we have a covenant that god made with a man called eli eli was a priest in god's house you're talking about a man with great honor and position to serve god but listen to the covenant that god made to this man says therefore the lord god of israel says i said indeed that your house and your father's house the house of your father would walk before me but now the lord says far be it from me for those who honor me i will honor and those who despise me i shall lightly esteem behold the days are coming that when i will cut off the arm and the arm of your father's house so there will be no old men in your house and you will see an enemy in my dwelling place despite all the good that god does for israel there shall not be an old man in your house how incredible is that you see the generational aspect of god in both of these covenants one i'm going to multiply you and your descendants the other one i had a plan for that i had a plan for your father's house your your house and your children's house and it was to bless you but you've done something in your world you've done something with your attitudes and your actions that it says far be it from me i i i can't bless that type of action motivation i i can't get involved in that i was thinking how is it that two covenants from the same god to two fathers was so contrasting how did they get there because whatever abraham did man i want to do whatever his story is i pray that it's my story i pray that it's your story as a father as a mother as a connect leader as a business owner i pray that that's the covenant that god speaks over to you but on the other hand whatever eli did man let's take that as a warning sign don't go there don't be that person but the brilliant thing about the word of god it's not a mystery how these men got to where they are in fact in the very preceding verses in genesis chapter 22 15 it says then the angel of the lord called abraham a second time out of heaven and he says by myself i have sworn saying says the lord because you have done this thing what was the thing that caused the covenant you have not withheld your son from me your only son [Music] so here god says the premise of the promise is that you have not withheld the thing that you love the most see this son wasn't just a son i mean that would have been enough but in actual fact god said to abraham i will make you the father of many nations i will make your name great and yet he offers up his only son how ironic is that i'm going to make you a father and the way i'm going to do that is take away your ability to be a father but god says you know what that type of faith i can bless but let's have a look at the premise of eli's promise it says in first samuel chapter 2 29 it says why do you kick at my sacrifices and my offerings which i have commanded in my dwelling place and honor your sons more than me to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of israel my people so so the premise of abraham's promise is you have not kept your son from you gave your son to me the premise of eli's promise is man you kept it from me you you honored your son you you did something with your sons that caused you to elevate them above me the reality was eli had raised his sons to be wicked in fact that's what the scripture says in in the niv version it says that eli's sons god says eli's sons were scoundrels they were wicked in his sight what what were they doing that was wicked they were taking of the sacrifice that belonged to god see the israelites brought sacrifices into the house of the lord all the time that would bring their best and that would sacrifice it to god as part of the process of redemption part of the process of blessing this was this this was a sacred moment and i can't help but think about our church services and connect groups is people bring their sacrifice people practice and they begin to prepare and they lift up hands and and they they begin to pour their heart and their soul into this sacred moment whether you're in a lounge room it's a sacred moment people have prepared food and and created a atmosphere of honor and worship and this was the same atmosphere and honor that was meant to be in the house of god but eli taught his sons to be casual with it to be flippant with it bible says that when the priests served in the house they could partake of the sacrifice it's a very strict process they would take a a big fork and after the sacrifice was burnt first and the meat would then be boiled god says priests can take they could plunge a fork into this sacrifice and as they pulled it out whatever meat clung to the fork they could keep but the bible says that eli's sons worked out that when they put the fork in they could take the whole sacrifice see that wasn't god's intent the god's intent was that you would able to take provision from it but not the sacrifice but see eli didn't correct his sons eli didn't say to his sons hey that's that's something of worth of reverence and honor i think what eli either did was turned a blind eye or joined in but he became so casual eli and his sons with the sacrifice that they thought you know what we don't need to go through the process of burning the fat and boiling the meat we don't even like boiled meat just give us the sacrifice as they would bring it in they would steal the sacrifice from people preventing them from honoring god with it but then honoring themselves they took the meat and instead of going through the process they chucked it on the barbie and invited some mates over dishonored god dishonored the process dishonored the reverence and the holiness that this sacrifice was meant to be but it didn't stop there see once you start that culture in your house it doesn't take long before you're not just taking things as a commodity they began to take people as a commodity it says that eli sons slept with the people slept with the women that served in the house and i couldn't help but think god how is it that two sons that grew up in the presence of god grew up with the teaching of his word grew up with the statutes and the covenants and the stories of moses and grew up with all of these incredible god moments became so casual with what was what was meant to be sacred at the same time abraham raised his sons very different scripture teaches us that there's a moment where god speaks to abraham and says i want you to sacrifice your son the son of covenant the son of promise so abraham takes his son isaac up to a mountain obedient sensitive to god listening to his voice i'm sure internally there's a battle going on because when we sacrifice something of worth it costs us something i can't imagine a greater cost than abraham laying down his only son to please god to honor god to be obedient to god so abraham loads up isaac with the sticks and the rope that would bind the sacrifice and loads him up with the knife that is going to kill the sacrifice but doesn't tell isaac you're going to be the sacrifice but halfway up eyes that kind of twigs wait a minute i'm carrying all the stuff for the sacrifice i don't see the sacrifice so he asks his dad dad wears a sacrifice and abraham's response speaks of the character he says don't worry god will provide the sacrifice for isaac that's enough but he gets to the top of the hill and of course isaac becomes a sacrifice abraham lays him down binds him he's about to plunge the knife in to create the sacrifice and god stays his hand and says the fact that you didn't withhold from me i'm going to bless you but i was thinking about this but yet isaac is willing to be the sacrifice to lay himself on this altar and allow his father to present him back to god i'm like how is it that one father eli raised his children to take the sacrifice and another father raised his children to be the sacrifice like the scripture says there's no mystery in fact there's some cultures that were permeating in those families all of their life abraham had a culture of sensitivity to god in fact scripture teaches us that abraham heard from god in visions there was no reason for isaac not to trust his dad because he knew that that abraham was a was a man that was sensitive to god that that heard from god that had a prayer life and worshiped and lent him when the preaching was preached when lent in when the word was being spoken there was there was no separation so when he says god said abraham and isaac both believed it with all the intent of their heart i wonder how many of us as connect leaders as as fathers and mothers our family our community can say when they speak they speak because they've heard from god on the other hand eli eli had become cynical cynical of other people cynical of their motive cynical of their intent and the tragedy is i see that in church when when people come in and they sit as far back as they can or they come in late and they leave early why because there's a separation between what god wants for them and what they're willing to receive eli had become so disconnected to god that when a lady in the presence his presence cried out to god he missed it not only that everybody else seemed to be hearing from god around him a young boy called samuel was hearing from god hannah was hearing from god when god wanted to speak to eli directly he had to speak through another man of god to speak to the supposed man of god i'm like god how is it that you could be in the house of the lord all your days and become so disconnected because god can't move past your cynicism he can't break down that wall that you've built up and what we don't realize is as as we're allowing that cynicism to raise our next generation of disciples our next generations of sons and daughters are listening to our conversation on the way to church on the way home they're listening to the conversation at the end of connect group or as a connect group or as a community and they're listening for people that are authentic people that are sensitive to god what are they picking up in our culture is that is a culture of of cynicism or sensitiveness the next thing i noticed about abraham was that he was submitted god whatever you want whatever it cost me even if it cost me the promise that you gave me if you gave me it to start with you gave me this son why would i take it and keep it as my own when it belongs to you why would i do that in a way that that makes it about me where it stops the blessing just for me and so he hands it back eli on the other hand was calculated he was calculated in what he would do and when he would do it he used his position to get provision and he taught his sons man if you could write the right angle if you could do the right thing you could take take take and make it all about you abraham sacrificial eli calculated the last thing i noticed about the cultures is that abraham was sacrificial eli was entitled he created a culture of entitlement abraham was willing to sacrifice and not only him be the sacrifice but taught his sons just like these girls at the start the father and the mother taught their son that taught their daughters to be generous generous in everything even if it costs you it's worth it and the culture in abraham's life please god see i think that's the irony of parenting isn't it the irony of parenting is that we try to give our kids everything that we didn't have trying to make sure that they don't have to fight in the way that we fought trying to make sure that their path is easier than our path but yet god is saying hey i'm looking for a sacrifice i'm looking for something that i can bless i close with there's a man in our campus his name's rini incredible man and he came to myself after conference last year and he said to me mark um god told me that i need to work for the church i was like wow that's amazing he said yeah i'm a businessman and i've got a business and when god told me i said to god oh no worries i'll work in my business for five days a week and i'll give you whatever's left over god said no no that's not how it works it says you'll give me your best and whatever you've got left over you give to your business and i was honestly i i was a bit taken back by this and i said to rainy varini what does that mean it goes no no you don't understand you tell me what that means in other words i i'll sign the check you fill in the amount whatever it looks like i've already said yes to so i said rin we've just launched a new campus at midland and and pastor phil who was overseeing our connect groups and pastorally caring for so much of our campus he's he's gone and so he's left behind this this big gap and i need somebody looks like four days a week every monday every tuesday every wednesday looks like all day sunday that's what we need we need somebody to carry the weight we need somebody to care we need somebody to be here and he said no what no worries pastor mark whatever that looks like i say yes to so from that next monday rainy rocks up in my office here i am nine o'clock till five o'clock tuesday nine o'clock to five o'clock making calls working on our past oral care systems growing our connect groups wednesday and to this day every sunday he gets there now rini is a highly educated businessman he rocks up at seven o'clock in the morning with old jeans and an old t-shirt and begins to blow a vac and sweep our car parks weed our garden bed set out chairs why because he's willing to just present himself as a sacrifice to god and say god this is yours you gave me everything why would i hold everything anything back well the good news is rini's business that he now works two days a week weekend is healthier stronger and more profitable than it's ever been why because two days in god's hands is so much better than five days in our own hands better is one day in your court than a thousand elsewhere what god can do with a moment of sacrifice and pour out his spirit and it gives me so much joy to hear how his business and his family is flourishing but his business isn't the best thing about rini's testimony and his story it's the impact that it's had on his kids every single one of his kids is in the house every single one of his kids honors the house they serve they're the first ones here and they're the last ones to leave in fact manan his son drives 35 minutes past the campus that's just around the corner and drives further on because that's where the sacrifice needs to be that's where the need is and i look at their lives and what reni has trained into his children is if you want to be blessed be the sacrifice if you want god to honor you be the one that gives it back to him and i pray wherever you are as parents as connect leaders as as leaders in the community that we raise generations that will lay themselves down give them everything give everything god so that god can pour his spirit out so this is what i want us to do as we close if you're with your husband or your wife is if you're with your sons and your daughters as a family i want you to hold each other's hands because i'm going to lead us in a prayer of dedication today because i know god is looking to give that same covenant that he gave to abraham to a group of people that will simply be the sacrifice maybe you're single and you're standing by yourself this isn't a story about parents this is a story about discipleship this is a story about sacrifice so whoever you are wherever you are maybe you're in an old people's home maybe you're standing by yourself or in a community or a toi whatever it looks like to you i just want you to stand to your feet i want to lead us in a moment of prayer heavenly father i thank you that you gave everything to us and i just ask that all across the nations of this earth every person listening to my voice let the reality of god just invade their space where we have withheld from you where we have become cynical or calculated or even entitled we repent of those things where we've tried to protect our next generation from the fight thinking that we've done them a service where we've really protected them from the TO DEDICATE IS TO SURRENDER blessing i pray that you would give parents the strength to make a stand lord that homes and connect groups in SET APART our church all across the world would be known as people that are sensitive to your voice that are submitted to your ways and a sacrificial in our ways let it be contagious let it overflow in every single aspect of who we are from the songs that we sing to the places that we serve to the homes that we run