"READY TO RISK IT ALL"

Genesis 12:1-4

INTRODUCTION:

If you’re anything like me, you probably spend way more time on social media than you should. If you do, inevitably you have run across a picture with a caption that says he/she was “ready to risk it all”. It’s usually a meme of someone checking out someone they find attractive and the look on their face says it all. Sometimes its more than a look. Sometimes its a bold statement. It wasn't that long ago that Dr. Linda preached a message on “Living Single” and I have seen several single women sharing a post that says, “Single guys never shoot their shot, but the ones with wives and girlfriends empty the clip.....” In other words, they were ready to risk it all. They took a chance of losing what they had for a chance at the possibility of what could be! People have been willing to risk it all for as long as humanity has existed. Samson took one look at Delilah and was ready to risk it all! David caught a glimpse of Bathsheba and decided he was ready to risk it all! Samson risked it all and lost his hair, his strength, and eventually his life because he risked it all. David risked it all and lost a child and spent the rest of his life with his family in turmoil as “the sword would never leave his house” You can risk it all and lose it all listening to the voice of your flesh and ego, but what do you do when you’re called to risk it all to follow the voice of God?

Have you ever been at a crossroads in your life where you were faced with a choice between staying where you’ve always been, doing what you’ve always done, or going a different direction, making a life-changing decision that could change your life for the better? Were you willing to risk looking silly trying out for the sports team or asking that girl to go to the prom with you? Were you willing to risk looking out of place going to the gym for the first time or the first time in a long time to get into better shape and take better care of yourself? Were you willing to risk being alone to get out of a toxic relationship? Were you willing to risk giving up the perceived safety of being alone because you were too afraid to love again after being hurt in order to try it again? Were you willing to risk failure to launch a business fueled by your passion and creativity? Were you willing to risk losing friends and possibly relationships with family members and those closest to you because God has brought about a change in you and you don't fit in the same circles as you once did?

What is it going to take for you to be willing to risk it all for what God has for you?

Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus trusted that the what The Father had on the other side was worth risking it all and knew what He had to do in order to follow God’s plan for His life. What is it that we have to know, understand, and be willing to move on to follow God’s plan for our lives?

The first thing we have to realize is that....

YOU CANT GO WITH GOD AND STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!!!

(Point 1. Forsake The Familiar)

God calls Abram away from his country, his kindred, and from his father’s house. He calls him away from familiar...

places

faces

and spaces

Familiar places: At the time of this text, we find Abram living in the city of Haran. It’s the place where his father, Terah, lived, worked, and died. The city of Haran is located on a well-known trade route shared with other Mesopotamian cities such as Babylon and Nineveh. It was a high traffic area that would easily be considered good for business. You know what they say.... The 3 most important things in business are location, location, and location. It’s important to note that Abram’s father was headed to Canaan, but stopped and settled in Haran instead of going all the way. It’s possible that he stayed there because he saw opportunity. However God’s call to Abram was a call to obedience not to opportunity!

Don’t sacrifice righteousness for revenue!

All money ain’t good money and all good money ain’t God money!

It doesn’t matter how appealing things may be; if it conflicts with God’s will, leave it where it is! It was Adam and Eve who saw the fruit of the tree that God said not to eat of as being good for food and we all know how that turned out!

Haran was a place rampant with Idol worship and as the True and Living God, Abram was called out of a place where God would have to compete with other Gods for Abram’s heart. (GF STORY ILLUSTRATION).

FAMILIAR FACES:

God also calls Abram away from his kindred, his family. At this point, his father has died. It is inferred that verse 1 is not the 1st time that God called Abram away from his family but a reminder of God’s call while they lived in Ur of the Chaldeans before settling in Haran. It’s possible that Abram remained with his family in Haran out of respect for his father’s leadership. By the time we get to chapter 12 verse 1, we see that Abram has no more excuses to keep from obeying God.

What’s keeping you from doing what God has called you to?

What has to die in your life for you to focus on the assignment God has given you?

I’m reminded of Luke 9:57-62

Luke 9:57–62

And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God

If we’re gonna be ready to risk it all to follow God, we have to prioritize His power over both the living and the dead.

Familiar Spaces ( His Father’s House)

We know Abram’s father was an idol worshiper according to Joshua 24:2 “And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.”

According to Jewish scholars, not only was Terah a worshipper of idols but also made his living by hand-making them for other idol worshippers to take home to worship. According to Rabbinical accounts of the events of that time, the story is told of Abram taking an axe and destroying all but one of the idols in his father’s shop. The axe was then placed in the hands of the single idol that remained. When Terah saw what had been done, he angrily asked his son Abram for an explanation. Abram told his father that the last idol standing had destroyed all the others. Terah got even angrier and said to his son Abram, “That’s impossible! There’s no way it could have happened that way” Abram replied, “If all these gods are powerless, why do you worship them?”

It’s really remarkable how children can easily recognize the hypocrisy in the lives of the adults around them. Seemingly with each generation, fewer and fewer of our young people have an interest in Christianity or being part of The Church. Is it possibly because the parents they see at church doesn’t match the parents they see at home? Are they with their actions asking us “Why would I serve your God who seems to be powerless in your life?”

Is it possible that although we may not have statues and figurines in our homes that we pray to, are we treating The True and Living God they way some of us treat relationships with one another? Are we living lives that suggest, “If one God won’t, another one will.”? Are we serving The God who woke us up or the the person we woke up next to? Are we going to work each day treating our jobs and businesses as if they are THE SOURCE instead of a RESOURCE provided by THE SOURCE?

It’s one thing to know what we’re being called from, but another thing to know what we’re being called to. In both circumstances , we have to put feet to our faith and move!

“GOING WITHOUT KNOWING (POINT 2) PURSUE THE PROMISE”

Abram may not have known where the land God was speaking of was, but he heard God clearly describe what he would do.

“I will make of thee a great nation”

At the time Abram hears this, he is a 75 year old man with no children. Isn’t it just like God to declare something incredible over us that we don’t even have the slightest of an idea of how God will bring it to pass? How much would it surprise you that the leading company in transportation doesn’t own any vehicles? It’s Uber! AirBnB’s and VRBO’S are giving hotels a run for their money if not beating them in places to stay while traveling, yet they don’t own any property! All I’m here to tell you is that all you have is all God needs to do great things in your life. God gives us glimpses of the things we never thought possible and the first thing we respond with is a list of “But I don’t haves”. What you do have is faith in God and in his Word! All God needs is to speak to make things happen!

“I will bless thee and I will make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing, and In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”

We keep seeing iterations of the word “Bless” in God’s promise to Abram and we see them in this order; Bless, Blessing, Blessed.

The first thing we have to establish is what it means to be blessed. far too often, we associate blessings with stuff! We think a new car is a blessing. we think new home is a blessing. we think a promotion on the job is a blessing. While all those surface and superficial things are important, and we should thank God for them these are things on the surface and shiny things that make us look good. They are “Decorations” on our lives.

But God’s ways are not our ways, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts! The things we call blessings are by-products of what God has spoken over us! Let’s not confuse the blessing of God with the decorations on our lives with the real blessing being God’s Declaration over our lives! (Look at somebody and tell them these “decorations” are just manifestations of God’s “declaration”!) You’re blessed even before you look like it.!

It was there when God establishes covenant with Abram where we see bless in its simplest form. It’s a singular event in Biblical history. But it goes on to say that Abram would be a “blessing” the -ing suggests that because God’s declaration over Abram that God would also use his life to continually further the establishment of God’s covenant in the lives of everyone connected to him. It’s like he said to Abram, “Bruh.... We ‘bout to go viral”. To this day, we are all still being blessed because of the covenant he made with Abram.

“And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. We see the last version of the word bless. It is bless(ed). This is the part of the promise that we live in today. By this point the blessing of Abraham is an unstoppable force that cannot be contained. We often talk about generational curses but don’t talk about generational blessing nearly enough. God says to Abram “IN” you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Not “On you”, not “because of” you but In you. The blessing is not just what God wants to give TO you but what He desires to do THROUGH you! God says what I placed on the inside of you is powerful enough to change the world! I get it now.... “Transforming lives to change the world”

To Receive it all, you have to Risk It All

While we shout about all that God says that we would get because of what Abram got, the first thing Abram had to get was OUT! None of it would have happened if Abram never put his feet behind his faith! He left without google maps, he left without life360, he left without an address or a destination, he left without God “dropping his location” He had to start going before God started showing. The question that always bugged me was, How did Abram know what direction to go in from the beginning? I found the answer in Psalm 119:105 “NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.” That if I would be in tuned with the Word of God, and sensitive to the Voice of God, I can fulfill the Will of God.

Closing

Abram started out the son of a man who made his living hand crafting statues to idol gods and became the “Father of the Faith” because he risked it all to surrender to the call of God on his life. 42 generations later, his descendant also the son of a carpenter, left the family business to be about “The Fathers Business” His name is Jesus Christ! and Not only did he risk it all, he took our sin to the cross of Calvary and He paid it all! That’s all I really came to tell you this morning. That if you’re ready to risk it all, to follow Christ, you can have it all! Everything God wants to do in your life if you will say yes to him and move in the direction God is leading you!