We are in a 7 week series called The Story of Us: Rediscovering Who We are as the People of God. The Story of Us is told with seven words: Creation, Catastrophe, Covenant, Community, Crown, Christ, and Church. Each week we will unpack each word and its application in our lives.

So far, the story of us goes like this.

1) Creation - God created everything and it was very good. We were created to live in completely vulnerability with God and with one another.

2) Catastrophe - We as humans chose to be like God, to set our own course, which leads to rebellion from God. Sin entered the world and separated us from God, each other and even within ourselves. Sin infects all people, all institutions and creation itself.

3) Covenant - Today we see how God is at work redeeming us and healing all of creation. God decides to do it through a particular family, the family of a man from Haran named Abram. God revealed himself to Abram and told him the he will bless him, make him a creation nation and all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through him. Abram went as God has told him to a land he had never been before. He set out with his wife and clan when he was 75 years old.

In Genesis 15, we see God continues to reveal himself and his covenant with Abram. He takes him outside to look at the stars and says, "try to count the stars ... so shall your offspring be." In Genesis 17, God changes Abram's name to Abraham. Now he will be the father of many nations and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you. He believes God and it is credited to him as righteousness.

How does this apply to us in 2021?

Each Sunday this year we are asking, "What is my next step?" Unless you are perfect, there is always a next step that we can take towards Christ. There are several next steps of application from this for us today:

1) A Call to Obedience
God told him in Genesis 12 to go to a land He would show him and Abram went. We want God to reveal not just our next step but the steps after that before we go. We prefer security. We like knowing. Abram steps out in faith.

What steps of faith is God calling you to take? Will you simply trust him at His word?

2) A Call to Faith
Romans 4:23-24 tells us that the words "it was credited to him" was not written for Abraham alone but also for us, whom God will credit righteousness to us if we believe God rose Jesus from the dead. Abraham is more than a model of obedience. he is a model of faith. We are to put our faith in Christ.

3) A Call to Be a Blessing
Through Abraham's family God was going to bless the world. Galatians 3:14 states that God redeemed us so that God's blessing to Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the Spirit.

In other words, we are simply a conduit of God's blessing. We are not meant to store it up for ourselves but to allow God's love and power to flow through us to others. In our world today, God gives us many opportunities to be a blessing to others. Open yourself up to be a blessing to others.