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Encounters with God is a sermon series about the theophanies or divine appearances and how they reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. In Abraham's encounter with God, we discover both God's desire to have a relationship with people and how we might respond to him today. Recorded on Oct 31, 2021, on Genesis 15, by Pastor David Parks. Sermon Transcript All year, we’re focusing on The Greatness of God. And today, we get to start a brand new sermon series called Encounters with God. In the Bible, when God appears to someone it’s known as a theophany or divine appearing. These encounters are wild stories, full of surprises. God never seems to act how we would expect. However, again and again, these stories reveal the stunning character of God and his heart for a world that is lost without him. This series will go all the way into the new year (with a little break for Christmas). So today, we’ll start our series with Abraham’s encounter with God in Genesis 15. And we’ll see God’s heart for a relationship with people and we’ll see how we might have a relationship with him, even today. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Genesis 15:1. Genesis 15:1-6 (NIV), “After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,[a] your very great reward.[b]” 2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Let’s pause here. So first, a little context. Genesis is a book of beginnings written by the prophet, Moses. The first 11 chapters describe a number of prehistoric creation stories and then chapter 12 seems to fall down into history with the family of Abraham and Sarah (or Abram and Sarai as they were known at this time). Now, Abram’s story is a very important story to understand anything about the work of God in the world, because it sets up and helps explain everything that comes after this. So first, this chapter is structured around two “I am” statements of God. “I am your shield, your very great reward.” in v. 1 and then “I am Yahweh (the LORD), who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans.” These statements are followed by a ceremony to ratify a covenant relationship between God and Abram. However, after the first “I am” statement, Abram has a problem. You see, back in Ge 12, God made a promise to Abram saying, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” But here, Abram says to God, “You promised to make me into a great nation, but I don’t even have a child of my own.” From previous chapters, we know that Abram had great wealth and he had many people working for him, but he and Sarai have no children of their own. God responds right away saying, “Come outside, Abram, and look up. Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” In other words, God says, “I’m not just going to give you a child, Abram, I’m going to give you a people. I’m not just going to give you a little, I’m going to lavish my grace on you.” Now, would this be hard for you to believe? At this time, Abram was an old man, and his wife, Sarai, was an old woman. No doubt, they both thought that ship had sailed long ago. The only way for them to have kids at this point would be through a miracle of God. How would Abram respond? Look at v.6,