Where do I sign?

YieldingGenesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:23-31; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38

“He has the right of way!”

Who is who?

GOD

US

We believe we have rights

• To choose our future• Make our own decisions• Seek out our own retribution• To be successful & make lots of money• Focus on our life and our family first

– BIBLE VERSE HERE: It says, “You have been given free will by God.”

God’s Right of Way

• Isaiah 55:9– “As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

• Proverbs 3:5-6– Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Two reasons we yield to God

• God is bigger than we are– Matthew 16:24-26• Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be

my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

Two reasons we yield to God

• God is bigger than we are• God has the right of way in our lives– Jeremiah 31:33

God’s job is not to protectyour right to go your way

• Acts 10:34-35–Then Peter opened his mouth, and

said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

Yielding leads to a new name

Genesis 17:1-7

• God comes to Abram another time to reestablish God’s covenant with Abram and Sarai.

WHY?

So what happened? Genesis 12:1

Abram means High Father Sarai means Argumentative

“We” still have some rightsalong the way

Abram• Aligns with the rich and

powerful (Gen 12:10-20)

Sarai• Sees herself as property of

the covenant not part of it (Gen 12:10-20)

• Thinks he gets to choose where and who the covenant will be with (Gen 13-15)

• Thinks she gets to choose when and how the covenant will be fulfilled in her family (Gen 16)

New names for new people

Abraham means

Ancestorof a

multitude

Sarah means

Lady

Romans 4:3What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

We too have names

Some are given to us• You are “So Cute” • You are “So Smart”• You are “A problem”• You are “No help at all”

Some are assumed by us• I am “Going to be a Star”• I am “God’s gift to the

world”• I am “Worthless”• I am “Ugly”

God has new names for us

• Revelations 2:17–Whoever has ears, let them hear what

the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.