God calls Abram – Genesis 12

God - calls - Abram

 

Wednesday 04/19/17 

Message – God Calls Abram

Series: Thru the Bible – Genesis 12

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Genesis 11:27-32

  • Terah means delay (died at 205)
  • Abram means Exalted Father. (175)
    Note: Job probably lived about 210 years

Genesis 12

•Terah had Abram at 113 years of age, because Abram BEGAN his walk with God at 75 years of age in the year (1881B.C.) when Terah died at 205 years old. SLIDEs001-002

NOTE:

• Mizriam began to develop Egypt within 3 generations of the flood.

• SLIDEs003-004

• Abram is 9 generations from the flood.

• By the time of Abram, Egypt had been est. for nearly 6 generations.

• American has only been here for about 6 generations (241 yrs).

• By the time Jacob and his sons dwell there in the land of Goshen, Egypt would have been there for about 12 generation from the flood.

• Imagine our growth rate with the huge amount of abortions performed annually, while Egypt had no such practices.

  • God calls Abram from Ur of the Chaldeas.
  • So it wasn’t until AFTER the death of his father that Abram obeyed…but even then it was not FULL obedience.
  • The promise to Abram was multi-generational – making the Giver of the promise a multi-generational God. – This is VERY important!!!
    • The promises of God for a nation was to establish a bloodline for the coming Messiah. The Messiah was to establish a blood covenant for a kingdom. EVERY generation in God’s family beginning with Abram did not live unto themselves alone, but carried the banner of faith for each successive generation.
    • Though their faith was rewarded many times over individually – adding pages and volumes to the record of those who obtained righteousness by knowing and trusting God – NONE of them realized THE PROMISE to Abram – even though they lived and died in faith!
    • Heb 11:32-36, “32) And what shall I say yet? For the time will fail me telling of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jepthae, and both David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith overcame kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens. Women received by resurrection their dead, and others were tortured, not accepting the deliverance in order that they might obtain a better resurrection. (36) And still others received a trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, tested, sawn asunder; they died, slaughtered by the sword; they wandered around in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, hard pressed, maltreated, men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering over deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes of the earth. And these all, although they had witness borne to them through their faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, in order that they without us should not be brought to completeness.”
  • These are given testimony to in the chapter of testimonies of Hebrews 11 which is made clear in 12:1 “Wherefore brethren, seeing how we are surrounded by so great a cloud of testifiers – let us lay aside every encumbrance and sin that slows our progress and run with perseverance the race set before us.”
    • This passage goes on to demonstrate the power of testimony… “For consider Him Who endured such hostility from sinner against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart. In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted (as He did) to the point of shedding your own blood.”
  • God makes demand upon Abram before He offers Him a promise.
    • Go out from the land of Ur
    • Leave your father’s house
    • Leave your relatives
    • Go to a land that I WILL show you.
      • Hebrews 11:8 Tells us, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was going.”
  • God outlines His purposes in the promise He gives Abram.
    • I will make of YOU a great nation (great in size, importance & in significance) !
    • I will Bless you!
    • I will make your name GREAT (remember Genesis 6 – men or “great name”)
    • YOU will BE a blessing!
      • This sets a pace for all other promises to the descendants of Abram. God is making for Himself a people – a nation!
    • Those who bless you I will bless
    • Those who curse you I will curse
      • Curse means to bind; to hem in with obstacles; to render powerless to resist.
      • Compare with curse of serpent, woman and man.
    • He then repeats – IN YOU all the families of the earth will be BLESSED!
  • Immediately Abram’s obedience was partial.
    • The actual journey was not immediate – Acts 7:2-5 “(2) Brothers and fathers,” he said, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, (3) and said to him: Get out of your country and away from your relatives, and come to the land that I will show you. (4) “Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you now live. (5) He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, but He promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless.”
    • This teaches us something! Hebrews declares Abram’s departure to be one of faith – yet it was also one of only partial obedience.
      • “and Lot went with him”; of his own accord, and he only, besides his wife Sarai and his servants, for Terah was dead, and Nahor and his family stayed behind.
    • The way it is worded in verse 4 it sounds almost innocent, but verse 5 clarifies things. It says, “He took Lot with him” The word Lot means to grab by the hand or seize a person or animal. So this was not just Lot NOT LEAVING, it was Abram bringing him along.
      • VERY IMPORTANT – Abrams brother had died as had his father in Haran. Abram probably felt responsible for his nephew. This type of behavior is the cause for many missteps for God’s children. We do something with good intentions which causes us to fail to fulfill all God’s good intentions for us.
      • Example of Alistar Begg – answering a phone with you eye or tying a shoe with your ear. 20% does 80% (work & giving).
      • Abram brings Lot along and does not advance in his calling until he separates from him in 100% obedience. How many Christians “feel the need” to cover for the lack of another who is doing or giving little to nothing? How often is this “seemingly good deed with good motives” sidestepping them from God’s intentions for their talents and resources. Effectively exchanging an excellent thing for a good thing?
  • They came to Sichem – this was to be an important city. It was located 30 miles north of Jerusalem, on the border of what would become Ephraim and Manasseh’s land. It eventually served Israel as a Levitical city AND a city of Refuge. It was the first capital city of the Northern Kingdom. This is the very site where Abram received his vision and promises from God at the tree of Moreh. Jacob later purchased this land from Shechem’s father and erected an altar there called “God, the true God of Israel”.

• God shows Abram the land saying,

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

Gen. 12:8-9,
“(8) And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. (9) So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.”

Gen. 12:10-20,                                                                                                                                                   “(10) Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. (11) And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. (12) Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. (13) Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.” (14) So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. (15) The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. (16) He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels. (17) But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. (18) And 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’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” (20) So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.”

There is much more information in the audio/video of the actual message. I hope you listen, learn and enjoy!

Blessings! 

 

 

 

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Blessings!

 

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!