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Scripture reading:

Genesis 12: 4-7

 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak* of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring* I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Exodus 3:7-8

Then the Lord said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Numbers 13:17-23

17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, ‘Go up there into the Negeb, and go up into the hill country, 18and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the towns that they live in are unwalled or fortified, 20and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be bold, and bring some of the fruit of the land.’ Now it was the season of the first ripe grapes.

21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22They went up into the Negeb, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the Anakites, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23And they came to the Wadi Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them. They also brought some pomegranates and figs.

Sermon Title:   "THIS COULD BE HEAVEN OR HELL"           Sunday, October 26, 2008                 "Hotel California" -Eagles

PASTOR HUDSON:  The common denominator

    between these three scripture readings is they're all

    referencing the land of Canaan and the tension it

    brings to Abraham. 

         God speaks to Abraham and says follow me and I'm

    going to take you to a wonderful land. As the story develops,

    we would come to know this promised land as Canaan. A land that would be

    described as rich and fertile: a land of “milk and honey.

    Abraham packs up and goes with God.  When his family arrived

    in the land of Canaan, along with the honey, there were some pretty bad folks there. 

    So, Abraham kept right on going through that promised land

    ultimately towards Egypt. On the journey, Abraham discovered God’s provision

    in the context of struggle and uncertainty.

         Christians as well as ancient Hebrews encounter

    God's richest blessings in the midst of tension that

    exist within their life.  It is tension that on the

    one hand looks to the wealth of possibilities that

    every situation may posses over against the

    possibilities that are equally present where something

    very unfortunate may play out. 

          While reviewing these texts, I found myself thinking of that Eagles

    tune, Hotel California, the lyrics which proclaim, “I found myself

    thinking this could be Heaven or this could be hell.” 

    That song dramatizes the tensions that are simply a

    part of living life. 

         When hardships and heartaches happen in our

    lives, (and it happens to all of us,) you may look

    around at some of your brothers and sisters in the

    Lord and feel like they were born with a silver spoon

    and had a charmed life, that somehow God has got a

    grudge against you, but that's not true. 

         Oftentimes, if you get beyond the surface, you

    discover that every one of us live in the

    tension of a moment that says this world is going to

    have its challenges, that's just the way it is.  In

    life struggles, God blesses us by opening doors and

    changing things which leads us through to victory and

    celebration.  So while we know that we're going to go

    through some tough times, those moments of wonderful providence and

    serendipity  are going to be there. 

         As Abraham went into the land of Canaan, it was

    to be expected that there would be tough situations

    traveling through that land, but you see, that wasn't

    the point of the story.  The point was God was going

    to providentially care for Abraham in the midst of

    that tough situation.  If you follow the story of

    Abraham over those next few chapters, that is what you

    see unfolding.  No matter what circumstance or

    challenge Abraham faced, God was faithful to walk with

    him in the midst of the struggle.

         Brothers and sisters, some of you here today are

    living on one side or the other of this tension.  For

    some of you, this is the most amazing day that you've

    every experienced in your life, and some of you woke

    up this morning thinking, man, if I wasn't worried

    that the preacher would call me I wouldn't even go to

    church today.  It doesn't matter which of those two

    scenarios you're in, God is with you. 

         God is there for you in the moment of struggle. 

    God is there for you in the moment of victory and

    celebration because as your covenant partner, God has

    pledged to walk with you through all of life no matter

    what the circumstances are. 

         The key for you and me today is to recognize that

    that tension exists and to know that He is with us

    while we are live in and through this tension.  There is

    nothing that you cannot take to God in such a moment,

    whether it's a celebration of the most amazing day

    you've ever had in your life or the fact that you feel

    like you're on the ropes and you've just about gone as

    far as you can go, you can take either one of those

    things to the Lord. 

         So here's what I would say to you as we close

    today, recognize, number one, that we will always live

    in tension, but it is in the tension that God has

    greater opportunity to work in our lives. 

         Are you struggling today?  Tell it to Jesus.  Let

    God work in that marvelous way that he knows best how

    to do and see the salvation of the Lord.  In the name