Category Archives: Abraham: Life of Faith

Abrabam and the Consequences of Compromise

03 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

 

 

In a time of famine Abraham chose to go down to Egypt. He suggested his wife Sarah act like his sister so that he would not be harmed by Pharoah. Abraham’s vagabond days of being sustained by the mercies of God ended abruptly as he turned to Egypt as a source.  He had a full belly but a bankrupt heart!

Remember this was the same man who walked away from his home and family and vowed never to return.  This same man faced new enemies everyday in Canaan and never flinched or backed down.  In those days he walked in obedience to the known will of God. But now that Abraham had succumbed to fear and entered Egypt, he was out of God’s will.  He no longer walked in obedience and anointing.

When we walk away from the known will of God we forfeit God’s protective hedge of protection. Abraham walked out of Canaan, his fellowship with God, away from the tent and the altar.

The outcome of Abraham’s disobedience was that Sarah was put into a situation of real danger. The king claimed her for his harem, and the lie Abraham told opened that door. Abraham was trying to protect himself, but in protecting himself he exposed Sarah to indecency and danger.

Not only was Sarah endangered, but so was Lot. Abraham’s nephew went down to Egypt with him. Later on when the allurements and enticements of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah cast their spell over Lot, we are told that he saw Sodom as though it were the land of Egypt. (See Genesis 13:10) This lust for comfort and worldly glory was enhanced during this stay in Egypt. Abraham and Sarah quickly got over Egypt but Lot and his family never recovered from the worldly attachments they discovered in Egypt.

Egypt ultimately made Abraham very rich. You say, “What’s wrong with riches?  They are not bad, but a blessing?” Yes they can be a blessing unless they come prematurely from a wrong source before we are ready to handle them. Jesus taught us the difference between “owning things” and “things owning us”. (See Mark 4:19).  Jesus taught it was the “delighting in riches” that choked the Word in a person.

In Egypt Abraham was given sheep, oxen, menservants, maidservants, donkeys, and camels. This was the wealth of the oriental world. But when he came back into the Promised Land, the first thing we heard was the strife between Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen over the riches they received in Egypt.  Abraham could deal with the riches, Lot could not. In addition, Abraham willing offered up the Promised Land to Lot. It was promised to him, not Lot. Wow!

Furthermore, we are told Abraham and Sarah were given maidservants, one of whom was named Hagar. Through Hagar Abraham later conceived Ishmael. Ishmael is recognized by Muslims as the ancestor of several prominent Arab tribes and being the forefather of Muhammad. The price of living in Egypt was extremely high and is still being paid today.

Abraham was called to be a blessing, but when he got into Egypt, he became a curse instead!

“The Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”

A Christian out of fellowship with Christ is of no help to the lost people around him. Instead, he is actually a hindrance. His life of hypocrisy and weakness is a stumbling block and a plague upon the hearts of those who are watching him.

I end with this dramatic scene. Here was God’s man Abraham standing before a pagan king who had better morals than he. Listen as Abraham was publicly rebuked for his folly.

 

Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.”  (Genesis 12:18-19)

 

There is nothing more degrading for a Christian than to neglect God’s warning and afterward get rebuked by the world. God would always rather correct His children in private first.  It is never God’s heart to make a public display of our disobedience.  He loves His children too much to desire this type of display.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

Abraham and His Wifster!

02 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

 

I’ll bet you didn’t know Abraham had a wifster.  He did.  It was only when Abraham decided to go Egypt because of famine that we discovered the wifster.

 

It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.”  Genesis 12:11-13

 

Abraham was a man of faith. But now that a famine has occurred, he has gone off the reservation.  He concocted this plan to save his own skin.  Sarah was actually Abraham’s half-sister. The only problem was she was his whole wife.

You may have all heard of the southern parents who had a son that was serving time in the penitentiary.  But his mother told all her friends and relatives he was off serving time in the war. Well he was sort of serving time for his country.

Abraham Lincoln said “You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” But the greater truth is you can’t fool God any of the time. No matter how you view it, participating in deception violates the conscience and further impairs our relationship with God.

So Abraham produced a half-truth called a wifster.  But a half-truth is also a half-lie; and a lie in any proportion is intended to deceive. The nearer a lie is to the truth, the more perfectly deceitful it is.  This is Satan’s modus operandi.

Abraham’s intent was clearly to deceive. Doubtless he justified it on the grounds it was needed to protect his beautiful wife. Perhaps this was the most startling thing about this story. Sarah was sixty-five years old at the time, yet so remarkable was her beauty that Abraham was afraid he might lose her. This was exactly what happened. When the Egyptians saw her, they immediately took tales of her beauty to Pharaoh.

Why is lying so bad in God’s eyes?  Lying is the very opposite of speaking and living God’s truth.  To lie is to cower at current circumstances and abandon the promise of God’s deliverance. Lying lips cause us to live below God’s standards and to trust the flesh. This is especially true when you ask someone else to lie for you. There is no honor in lying.  Abraham’s solution was to sacrifice Sarah’s honor and save himself. “That it may be well with me for your sake, and that I (My soul shall) live because of you.” (13b) Abraham was basically saying, “Sarah save me!”  He was not crying out to God but scheming with Sarah. Abraham was not seeking the Lord’s guidance nor relying on His protection.

Remember it was fear that caused Abraham to leave God’s land of promise. Now, it was fear again that caused Abraham to concoct a plan of lies and deception.  Often, when we get out of God’s plan, we get ourselves into worse situations that take us further down the very road we were trying to avoid.  There is an old saying that states,

 

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

 

I am sure Abraham didn’t immediately wake up one day and say, “I am going to sacrifice my wife’s honor to save my own life.”  No, the more he thought about his own life, the more he became afraid.  The more fear he allowed into his heart, the more schemes like deception and lying came to his mind.

To say this little white lie didn’t have consequences and conclude God didn’t care is the wrong conclusion. God did protect Abraham but a generational curse was placed upon his family and it manifested in the next four generations.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

Is there a Famine in Your Future?

01 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

 

The story of Abraham does not go far until Abraham’s faith is tested. This story encourages me because it seems I never go far with a “word” from God until I run into stiff resistance. We all can learn from Abraham’s failures, not just his successes.

We are not expected to do everything right!  We are expected to correct ourselves once we discover disobedience. Like Abraham, what Christian has not discovered what it is to lose his/her sense of joy and awareness of the presence of Christ?  This is the story about blowing it and then allowing God to fix it.

 

Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. (Genesis 12:10 RSV)

 

The land of Canaan was and still is like parts of California — wonderful land with a magnificent climate, but dependent upon a limited amount of rainfall.  When it fails to rain consistently, the land experiences drought.  Abram was a man with flocks and herds, and when the rains failed, his livelihood was severely threatened. As the scarcity of food grew, he felt driven to leave, even though God had called him to be there.

Abram took counsel, not from God, but from his fears alone. To use a contemporary expression, he “pushed the panic button” or the “easy button” and down to Egypt he went. It was fear that drove him.  If we do not allow the Lord to speak, then we will be left to only one voice and on most occasions it will be our fears.

I am asked the question all the time, “Do I have to ask God’s permission for every little thing I do?  I mean, come on now, I thought I was free?  Can’t I decide a few things in my life?”   The answer is yes you can.  In fact, you can make all the choices in your life if you wish.  But if you want to discover the absolute best and avoid the pits like Egypt, then you will want to consult God as much as possible.

Abraham’s life is an example of what it means to “side step” seeking the will of God. By faith Abraham walked right into Canaan.  By fear of famine Abraham walk right out of God’s promises into Egypt.

If Canaan is a symbol for us of what it means to experience fellowship with the Lord, and Egypt symbolic for the world … then a famine is any circumstance that threatens our dependence upon God. It is any circumstance that makes faith difficult to maintain. In short, famines are any threats, real or imagined, against the known will of God in our lives.

Have you ever experienced a famine?  Have you ever been living in the full joy of fellowship with Christ and suddenly some circumstance beyond your control blew into your life?   Because of the presence of that circumstance (famine) it became difficult to maintain fellowship and hold on to God’s promises.

Understand this right now:  Famines come to everyone. With Christ or without Christ everyone has famines.  “It rains on the just and unjust.”

When famine strikes the temptation will always be to flee rather than to fight and stick it out.  No one enjoys trials.  Our internal flight mode kicks in.  We move to another neighborhood, change jobs, take a trip, or go home to mother. If we simply cannot flee, we try to run away mentally. We escape the unpleasant reality by a flight into unreality. It is easy to escape mentally to Egypt and float down the river of (De Nile) where life seems much more pleasant than it is in reality.

A few years ago people would lapse into daydreaming. (There used to be songs about daydreaming.)  Now we mentally vegetate electronically via the television, computer, or video.   Many live in the realm of fantasy all day long.

Whenever we attempt to satisfy the Spirit using the same resources of the world, we have gone down to Egypt. Compromise will never complete or satisfy the word God has for you. After God told Abraham to go into Canaan and possess the land as an inheritance, Egypt could offer nothing better.  Compromise is a poor substitute to the promises of God.

Abraham’s flight into Egypt is not a warning that we should have nothing to do with worldly people. We are expected to live our lives in the midst of the world and its ways. This story is about staying with God’s resources instead of leaning once again on Egypt.  Once you choose Egypt you will eventually adopt the attitudes, the expectations, and resources of the world. The point is to never forsake God and His resources in the first place.

The world is not the believer’s problem.  The world will always be the world.  Our problem is failure to trust the Lord amidst hard times.

Blessings,

Pastor

 

The Altar of Ministry

29 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

 

Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.” 18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.  Genesis 13:17-18

 

Abraham built an altar at the site where King David would begin to reign and extend the Kingdom of Israel to its uttermost borders. Abraham walked the entire length and breadth of his inheritance.  Finally, at the Hebron altar, Abraham sought the Lord and laid claimed to his inheritance for future generations.

Before anyone can build the altar of ministry, the other two altars of dedication and worship must already be established.

Imagine this for a moment. A man whispered to me in private, “Hey, if you call on me in church I would be honored to pray publicly.” I say, “Great, I’ll call on you sometime.”   A few moments later this man’s wife approached me and said, “I really wish you wouldn’t call on him to pray in church.  He can do it and has prayed very eloquent prayers before….its just, well uh, I know he never has a quiet time and rarely prays to God alone.  He believes in it; he just doesn’t do it.  Also, I have begged and begged him to have family devotions and family prayer times with the children and myself but he never does.  In fact, he usually calls on the kids to pray during meal time.  It would bother me to hear him pray at church when I know he never prays alone or with his family.”

The point is none of us can have an effective ministry unless we have established in our lives the altar of dedication and worship. If you seek to minister before building these types of altars then you will simply be performing.  I know you will agree with me that we have had enough of this in church.

Notice what was going on in Abraham’s life just before he built this altar of ministry.  God allowed him to separate himself from Lot.  (see Genesis 13:6-14)

In order for God to use us for ministry we must separate ourselves from all the “Lots” in our lives. “Lots” are merely the people we have in our lives that will potentially ruin any ministry God develops.  What God allows in our earlier walk with Him has to be excluded as we advance spiritually. It is only when we completely separate ourselves that the altar of ministry can be built.

We commonly call this process “keeping boundaries” here at our house.  Sometimes in order for you move on with God, certain relationships or friendships have to go. They may even be family members!  It is not that these relationships are bad or sinful.  They simply keep you from becoming all God called you to be. It is about where God is taking YOU, not them. God will always let you know the boundaries you need to keep and maintain. It is your choice whether or not you are obedient with these boundaries.

 

 

Abraham had to separate from Lot before he could fully enter into his promised land and claim the inheritance God had for him.  God speaks about boundaries all the time and He has been speaking to you about the boundaries you need to make and keep.  He has been doing this for years.

Remember Abraham’s initial call to leave his home, his land, and his family.  Yet, when he left, who did he take with him?  Lot, his dead brother’s son.  Yes, I am sure Lot needed someone to look after him.  Yes, I am sure Abraham was the one responsible for him. God allowed Lot to journey with Abraham for a season.

But Abraham’s original call did not include Lot.  In fact, the call excluded Lot.  As Abraham was entering into the full measure of his blessing there had to be a separation and boundaries had to be kept.

Why?  Because if you and I do not keep well maintained boundaries, we will ultimately lose God’s blessings.  Notice, Abraham was already dividing up the Promised Land with Lot.  This was not what God originally desired.

When we finally kneel at the altar of ministry, we come alone.  It is not about anyone else.  It is not about being nice and generous to family and friends.  Lot was not walking the same spiritual road as Abraham and Sarah.  Lot didn’t keep boundaries and frequently compromised.  He and his wife ultimately lived in a whole society full of all types of perversions.  For the sake of Abraham, if God had not dragged Lot out of the city, he and his family would have been destroyed.

Are you ready to move forward in your call to effective ministry.  I don’t know any pursuer of God who has not had to forsake certain relationships in order to maintain spiritual purity.  What are your boundaries?  Allow the Lord to speak to these issues today.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

The Altar of Worship

28 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

 

 

Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. Genesis 12:8

 

This altar was built between Bethel (’House of God’) and Ai (’Ruins’). The point being…. Worshipping God and calling on His name in His House will keep our lives from ruin. Do you see the need?  We need to worship together with our own families and with the family of God (The Church).

If we don’t have an altar of personal worship we will not be able to join in worship as a congregation. Some people do not attend anointed worship at Church because they have never learned to worship alone with God.

You hear of people blaming the worship leadership, the instruments, song selection, acoustics, or the order of worship. But in reality they really need to blame themselves for never having built their own altar of personal worship.

This is why I believe that each person who publicly participates in worship needs to be a personal worshiper.  Too many times we see people get up in worship and seek to lead others in worship when we know they are not personal worshipers. This means they worship out of public service when no one else is looking.

I truly believe when we continue to worship at Bethel (the House of God), it will keep us from focusing upon Ai (I) our own problems.

Eventually, famine comes to everyone at some point in time.  If we spiritualize the word “famine” it can mean the absence of something essential. There will be times when we think, “I’m lost or I’m losing everything and God is quiet.”  It is at these points in life when we either turn to God and worship or turn inward to try and meet our own needs.

When famine came to Abraham, he initially lost faith in God and forsook Bethel (House of God).  He took a long look at Ai (I).  Abraham then went to Egypt (The World) and almost came to ruin (see Genesis 12:10-20) Only when he returned to the altar at Bethel did he get back on track. (Genesis 13:1-4).

There is only one source in life, the Lord God.  Like many of us, Abraham collapsed under the pressure of the famine. Instead of remaining at the altar and trusting in God he fled to Egypt. We will talk about Abraham’s lying problem later but I want to emphasize the IMPORTANCE of remaining at God’s altar. The beautiful thing is that God did not cast him off but graciously received him again as he humbled himself before the original altar he built at Bethel.

Remember Abraham didn’t have to go back and give his life to God again at the altar of Moreh in Shechem.  He just had to get right with God and start worshiping.  Getting right with God doesn’t mean starting over from the beginning. God calls us to go back to the place where we made the wrong turn and begin again.

 

Blessings,

Pastor 

The Altar of Dedication

27 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

 

Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. Genesis 12:6-7

 

Every hot-hearted seeker of God will build an altar of dedication in their lives. Early on in his walk with God, Abraham learned the benefits of building this type of altar. In order to understand the process of dedication Abraham went through, we need to understand this sacred place called Shechem.

 

 Shechem means “the shoulder – place to carry burdens”.   It sits between two mountains, Mount Ebal (Barren) and Mount Gerazim (Fruitful).

 

I have had the privilege of visiting Shechem.  It is now in Palestinian control.  It is also the place were the Children of Israel buried the bones of Joseph when they entered the Promised Land.  Shechem is seen as the entrance to the Promised Land.

Both Abraham and the Children of Israel carried the burdens of their past into the Promised Land.  God wants all of His children free from burdens in order to be blessed with the fruit of the land.  Abraham, the Father of Faith, was first to lead us into God’s promises. Abraham came to the place in his life where he was ready to spend time with God and allow the Lord to teach Him His ways.

Every day we must set aside time to come to our personal altar where we read God’s word, worship Him, and pray. Like Abraham, we must have a dedicated place set aside to experience the Lord.  Here we will encounter Him afresh and the Lord will teach us His ways.

Do you have a Shechem or Moreh in your life?  Where is it? If you don’t have such a time or place, you must purpose to build it now! It must be a quiet, sacred place where you go to experience God.  Building an altar of dedication will not happen by itself.  The responsibility is yours. Too many people are waiting for the Lord to move, yet they never arrive at Moreh to meet with their Creator upon His altar.

In Genesis 35:4 and Joshua 24:23-26 we learn more about Moreh in Shechem.  Jacob buried the family idols at the foot of this same tree by the altar of his grandfather. In addition, the Children of Israel, under the guidance of Joshua, erected a stone of covenant at this same spot and purposed wholly to follow the Lord.

As we come daily to our personal altars the Lord will reveal those “idols” in our lives which need to be buried and forsaken.  These are things we have placed before God and interfere with our worship.  In these quiet moments at the altar we can bury these idols and be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

This altar at Moreh was the same place that Jacob later built a well which existed in Jesus’ time. Do you think this is all an accident? Or is God trying to speak to us? Here Jesus told the Samaritan woman “He was the Living Water.” (see John 4:12, 21-23)

All this began centuries earlier because one man, Abraham, dedicated himself to the Lord and built an altar to God.  You too could change the destinies of people’s lives because you sanctified yourself on God’s altar.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

Building Altars to Worship

26 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

 

I don’t know if you have picked up on this fact before from reading through Genesis, but Abraham was an altar builder.  Isaac dug wells; Jacob made monuments; but Abraham built altars to worship the Lord.

Why were altars so important? If altars were so important to God in the Old Testament, then why don’t we build and worship at altars today? I’m glad you asked that question.  Some of you are probably thinking, “We consider the altar to be the front of our church.”  Yet, this is not really the same type of altar in which Abraham worshipped. I ask those questions to draw a parallel between the altars of the Old and the altars of the New Testament.

 

~ Altars Are About Worship ~

 

True worship takes place in the context of our obedience to God (see Genesis 12:1-5). Abraham was in the process of obeying God’s prompting to go to the land of Canaan. We cannot truly worship God unless we are in the place of obedience.

How many of you have discovered it is difficult, if not impossible, to worship God on Sundays when your living in known disobedience? The only effective way to truly worship the Lord in body, soul, and spirit is to be obedient throughout the week. It is your obedience that gives you excitement, passion, and fervor to worship the Lord. Disobedience breeds apathy, coldness of heart, neglect, and boredom in worship. It was only after Abraham became truly obedient to God that his real worship of God began.

 

~ Abraham Built Altars to Worship Effectively ~

Wherever Abraham went (cities, countryside & villages) he built altars to the Lord God. There he worshipped the Lord.

 

The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. Genesis 12:7

8Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.  Genesis 12:8

Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.  Genesis 13:18

Abraham was a trailblazer.  We know now that God prescribed and commanded the children of Israel to build and worship Him on altars. Abraham didn’t have all this information.  He blazed a trail.  He was simply a lover of God.  He was just discovering the art of worshiping God on altars.

We live in the New Testament era of grace, so where are our worship altars?  Are all the altars gone or are they present here today?  Why ask?  In order to gain forgiveness, acceptance, and access to God, altars were needed.  Sacrifices were made on altars.  Blood was spilled on altars.  This was done that sin might be removed and the worshiper cleansed.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat (Hebrews 13:10) which is in Christ! Through His blood we have access any time to the throne of God. In Christ we have everything we need that “pertains to life and godliness.”  So today we no longer have need of “altars” in the Old Testament sense.  But we do need altars in our lives in another way.

 

~ The Altar Represents True Worship ~

The altar represents true worship and involves: SURRENDER, SACRIFICE, and SERVICE.  Abraham would have used raw stones (not touched by man’s strength and skill) to represent a yielding to God’s strength and not trusting in his own strength.  (Exodus 20:25).  We cannot worship or offer God anything that is not tainted in some way by the world.  Therefore we are to take things God gives us (Jesus Christ) and worship the Father.  It is important that you understand this point because most people do not.  They want to worship God in their own way or fashion.  When God rejects them by not gracing them with His presence they are offended.   It is imperative we worship God as He requires through Jesus Christ and Him alone.  He is our altar.  We are to approach God in and through Him.   In Abraham’s life we can see the need for altar worship.  It is gives a keen sense of who Jesus is and our need for Him.

Are you ready to examine the three types of altars Abraham erected and discover the deeper meaning of what it means to worship at God’s altar?  I will discuss these later this week.

Blessings,

Pastor 

A Summons to Receive God’s Blessings

23 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

 

 

In the past two blogs I have been writing about all Abraham had to release in order to follow the Lord.  As someone said, “you cannot out give God.”  The blessings God promised Abraham far outweighed those things he gave up. Below is a summary of those blessings.

2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  Genesis 12:2-3

 

1) Hope and Future ~

The provision of hope is found in the Lord’s promise to Abraham, “I will make you a great nation.”  How would God make Abraham into a great nation when Abraham’s wife Sarah was barren?  God provided by giving Abraham and Sarah a promise first. The very thing Sarah longed for was now promised by God. It took 25 years but God’s word came to pass in their lives.

 

2) Divine Favor ~

The provision of divine favor is found in the Lord’s statement, “I will bless you.”  God’s blessings are beyond what we can think or imagine.  This promise was a promise of personal blessing, a blessing that would bring about prosperity upon Abraham’s life. God would prosper Abraham in his family, in his business, and ultimately in his entire journey of faith.

 

3) Success and Character ~

This provision is found in the Lord’s statement, “and make your name great.”  Abraham could have chosen to make a great name for himself or allow the Lord to do it.

In the previous chapter (Genesis 11:4) the people of Babel said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name.” Humanity strives to make names for themselves and become successful.  True success is only found in the life of faith. It is only by trusting in the Lord and following the Lord that one can truly have a great name.

The idea of a great name goes beyond fame. In ancient times a great name was a “revelation of character.” A great name referred to one who had “superior character.” A life of faith produces a life of righteous character.  A character that can only find its source in God.

 

 

4) A Great Nation and Blessing ~

This promise is a promise of purpose and destiny. As Abraham obeys the Lord by relinquishing all, he will then be a blessing for all to see. He will become an example a life blessed of God.

The implication of this promise of purpose goes beyond just being an example. If God is going to bless all the families of the earth, then Abraham and his descendants would have to be the message bearers to the rest of the world. Thus, being blessed by God has a responsibility of letting the rest of the world know about God’s blessings.

 

5) The Promise of Protection ~

“And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.” This promise is significant when you realize that the Lord was asking Abraham to leave the security and safety of his country, culture, and clan, and go to a place of uncertainty and hostility. Those who will bless Abraham in his journey of faith will be enriched, but those who hinder and become an enemy of Abraham will be cursed. One only has to observe the life of Abraham as well as the life of Israel to see that the Lord has been faithful to fulfill this promise.

In Abraham we discover what it means to walk in faith before the Lord.  These promises are not just given to Abraham.  They are extended to his children and to all who would follow.  How about you, do you wish to walk in faith?  Just as God invited Abraham to walk in faith, we too are given that opportunity as well.  Like Abraham, we must respond to God’s call to leave the world behind and follow hard after Him.  Your journey awaits!

Blessings,

Pastor

Letting Go of …Your Country, Relatives, and House

22 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

 

 

If Abraham was ever to enjoy the blessings of God he would have to relinquish the comfortable, the worldly, and wholly follow the Lord. The difficult portion of God’s summons to a life of faith was this call to relinquish those things which ultimately hinder the journey.

“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;” Genesis 12:1

 

God’s summons was simple …“go forth.” It was an imperative command.  Everything hinged on Abraham obeying those first words. Abraham was commanded to disassociate himself and relinquish those things which might cause him to stumble.  All bridges to his past had to be burned by his own hand. The Lord was asking Abraham to give up his past and his present situation in order to give him hope and a future.

I have never been to Ur. Some believe it was an ancient port city.  When my wife and I moved to New Orleans we thought we were moving to another country.  Port cities are different because of the influx of people.  We saw things in New Orleans that we haven’t seen since!  This was probably the type of environment God wanted Abraham to leave behind.

Sometimes God calls us out of bad environments and sometimes He calls us into these situations.  He knows what is best.  What we do know is that Ur would become the Chaldeans.  The Chaldeans would become the Babylonians.  The Babylonians would become the Syrians. Canaan did not compare to the luxurious comforts of Ur.  Yet the Lord was asking him to relinquish his country for the sake of Canaan.

In addition, Abraham was commanded to leave his relatives.  Acceptance, affluence, and protection would now be forfeited.  This included his inheritance and rights to family property. Had Abraham and extended family been able to move as a clan, he could have kept his identity and inheritance. In addition, there would have been a small group to lend support and protection in a new country and a new culture.

 

 

This seems harsh when we look at all that God was asking Abraham to relinquish. God knows what is best when it comes to the journey of faith, and He knows what is best for our spiritual development and progress in our life of faith.

Throughout the ages God has consistently called people to leave places of safety and security in order to place our total trust in Him. Jesus echoed these same principles only in a different way.

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

The summons to a life of faith is a summons to total commitment to the Lord. What many people fail to understand is that though the summons to a life of faith is a summons to relinquish, it is also a summons to receive. For when we relinquish all to follow the Lord we receive in return the greatest blessings that don’t come close to comparing to those things we give up. Tomorrow I will share a few of those blessings.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

Have You Received Your Summons to Live a Life of Faith?

21 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

 

“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;”     Genesis 12:1-2

 

I have been spending some time reading and praying through Abraham’s life.  Chapter 12 begins the story of Abraham’s call to leave behind his extended family and follow after God.  I was reminded that this was not the first time Abraham heard the summons of God. Chapter 12 could be a renewed summons of God’s call upon Abraham’s life. It was on this occasion when Abraham became fully obedient.  I have been at this place.  Maybe you have been at this crossroad as well, when you finally made the choice to go full throttle for the Lord.  There are several reasons to believe this was God calling Abraham to rededicate or renew his life to the journey of faith.

Chapter 11 indicates the Lord had originally called Terah, Abraham’s father, to leave Ur and go to Canaan.   “And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan…”

Now we don’t see the Lord speaking directly to Terah or Abraham in this text, but we do see God directing them to leave Ur for the purpose of going to Canaan. This indicates that some form of God calling Terah and his family took place.

In Acts Stephen reiterates this truth.

“Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ’Depart from your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ “Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans, and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God removed him into this country in which you are now living.” Acts 7:2-4

 

Did you notice the tense of these verses.  It reminds us the Lord considered the call on Terah’s life to be also a call on Abraham’s life.  It was a process that took an entire lifetime to fulfill.

All this suggests this was not the first time that Abraham heard God speak to him. No, the Lord had already spoken to Abraham and now the Lord was calling Abraham to rededicate himself to a life of faith.

Knowing this truth blesses me. I have not always gotten the Lord’s call and word right the first time.  Like Abraham, if our heart wants to be obedient, the Lord will continue to speak and work with us until our obedience is sure.

 

 

We should avoid Terah’s mistake.  He stopped short of God’s call.  He settled in Haran.  Terah never made it to the Canaan. Instead, he settled for what life had to offer short of what God promised. It was possible that Terah started a life of faith, but became a castaway.  Terah wanted the blessings of God, like so many people.  I have known many who started the journey of faith in good shape and with strong convictions.  But somewhere down the road they settled for less than God ordained.

Even Abraham at first had a hard time believing God in the beginning. The truths gleaned from his life are that the life of faith is a process.  When we begin the journey of faith, our ability to trust in God is not perfect. In fact, the journey of faith is really a journey into maturity. Abram’s faith matured over the years because his life of faith was a process.

Just as Abraham had his moments of struggling to trust God, so will everyone else who receives God’s summons. Just as Abram wanted to hold on to the comfortable, the familiar, and the worldly, so will we. The main thing is to stay in our process.

If you are currently in the process of following the Lord, stay in your process.  Keep on, keeping on.  Things may not look pretty today, but if you stay with God’s word, His word will eventually have its effect in your life.

 

Blessings,

Pastor