Step out of your tent: sermon outline

Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can.” Genesis 15:5

Introduction:

God calls Abram at 75 and promises to make him a great nation (Gen 12:2-4).
The promises repeat for almost 25 years, until he is 99, and the son doesn't come.
Five movements in Abram's life, and in yours: limitation, perspective, nature, capacity and transformation.

1. Limitation, the problem. Abram looks at his reality and decides what is true (Gen 15:3).

"You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir" (Gen 15:3).
Looking at reality is not a sin. Doing the math, planning and having discernment is wisdom.
But reality is one thing and truth is another. In reality, Saul was king. In God's truth, David had already been anointed (1 Sam 16:13).

2. Perspective, the solution. God speaks to Abram in a vision and ends up taking him outside (Gen 15:1, 5).

Inside the tent, if you look up you see the ceiling. Even the best tent in the desert has a ceiling.
The tent is everything you have built with your own hands. And you look at life from inside it.
Faith is not optimism. Optimism is temperament. Faith is looking at life from God's perspective, not yours.
"Wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest" (John 4:35).

3. Nature, the revelation. God wants to display His glory in your life, not your glory (Ps 19:1).

"The heavens proclaim the glory of God" (Ps 19:1). "He counts the stars and calls them all by name" (Ps 147:4).
God never gives you a gift your size. A gift is the size of the giver.
Smallness is not humility.
The promise was bigger than Abram: "All the families on earth will be blessed through you" (Gen 12:3). Jesus would come from his descendants.

4. Capacity, the temptation. Eliezer is what I have. Ishmael is what I can make happen. Isaac is what God wants to give me (Gen 16:2).

"The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant" (Gen 16:2).
Looking at reality is not a sin. Trying to fulfill God's promise in your own strength is the flesh.
Ishmael was "the child born by human effort"; Isaac, "the child born by the power of the Spirit" (Gal 4:29).
God doesn't want to multiply what you've already done. He wants to do something new.

5. Transformation, the redemption. Everything God does is to reveal who He is and who you are in Him (Gen 17:5).

At 99, God changes his name: "It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations" (Gen 17:5).
Sarah heard the promise from the tent and laughed (Gen 18:10-12). Inside the tent, God's promise doesn't fit.
Miracles don't produce faith. "Faith comes from hearing" (Rom 10:17), and miracles come through faith.

Conclusion:

Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. Hebrews 11:10