Family done different

Now, For some of us, we may have grown up in kids church or served in kids church and heard of father Abraham, And the book for our series in the preface opens up with the children’s song father Abraham, which I find pretty funny.

But for some of us, we may not have grown up, knowing who Abraham was so today will have a introduction to he is And the significance of his life.

But Abraham is greatly referred to in the Bible. He is referred to as one of the four fathers of our faith.

Abraham is the father of the many nations; And most memorably the father of the nation of Israel

So if you have your Bible with you today or you have your cell phone, please open up to Genesis chapter 11 starting in verse 27.

And if you don’t have a Bible with you this morning, please feel free to download a Bible app looking at scripture is the most important thing that you can do today..

In our passage today, Abraham’s name is Abram; You see later on in his life God changes his name from Abram to Abraham and his wife’s name Sarai to Sarah

But today we’re looking at the very beginning of Abraham’s life when he was known as Abram

again Genesis chapter 11, starting in verse 27

But while you turn there, I wanted to share short story that I heard a long time ago

Ham Story Start:

A young girl was watching her mother bake a ham for a family gathering and noticed her mom cutting off the ends before placing it in the oven.

“Mom, why do you cut the ends off before baking the ham?” she asked.

“Hmmm… I think it helps soak up the juices while it’s baking. I’m not sure, though. That’s just the way your grandma always did it, so I’ve just always cut them off. Why don’t you call grandma and ask her?”

So, the little girl Called her grandma and said:

“Grandma, mom is making a ham and cut off the ends before placing it in the oven. She said that it’s probably to help soak up the juices but wasn’t sure. She said you’d know because she learned how to cook from you.”

“That’s true. I do cut off the ends of the ham before baking. But I’m not sure why either. I learned how to cook from my mom. You should ask her.”

So, the young girl called her great grandmother and asked “Great grandma, mom and grandma said they learned how to cook a ham from watching you. Do you cut off the ends of the ham to help it soak up the juices?”

The great grandmother chuckled. “Oh, no sweetie. I just never had a pan big enough to hold a whole ham, so I always had to cut off the ends to make it fit.”

Story End And Moral begin:

There are a lot of different things of a culture as people as families that we do… “And our answers are well that’s how it was done in my family”

“That’s how I was raised”

“That’s just the way things are done”

But today we’re gonna look at Abram and if Abram had followed the things that were done before him truthfully you and I would not be here today

Abram is the father of Israel and through him came the lineage of Jesus, our salvation.

Abram chose to do family differently and it caused an amazing impact

Let’s look at our text this morning…

Main text:

Genesis 11:27–32 ESV

27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 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 forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

Genesis 12:1–4 ESV

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 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.

Prayer:

Amen…

Note for context, we are reaching the end of a very long genealogy

Which goes something like and so-and-so, father so-and-so, father so-and-so, and then so-and-so died at this age

So Genesis 11 is the genealogies between the tower of Babel and the call of Abraham or in our story today his name being Abram

And these genealogies can be very tiresome and boring at times, but they tell the story of this lineage that leads to Majesty

The lineage of Abraham leads all the way down through Kings profits and finally to the Messiah Jesus Christ

And that’s the glorious part of Abraham’s story but in the beginning when he’s Abram It’s not quite as glamorous

You see Abram was not yet set apart from the world…

Before Abraham was called While he was still Abram living in the land of his father’s

He was not yet called. He was not yet said apart. He had no faith yet.

He lived in a culture that did not believe in Yahweh in God.

He lived in a Pagan city, following along with the rest of Humanity

In Abraham was from a family that did not worship Yahweh that did not worship the Hebrew God

Abraham’s family came from the dispersion of the tower of Babel

They were idle worshipers they worship the moon God known as sin

Abram Didn’t have a dad teaching him The Bible, he didn’t have a dad teaching him about God, but he had a dad showing him how to worship false gods.

This family was the average family of their culture

They may have heard stories of the great flood and the great tower of Babel, but they did not worship the God who brought for the ark and tore down the tower

These men were pagan…They were normal men of their day…A normal product of their culture…

So today if we in anyway, think while Abram turned out well because he was set up for success that’s not the case

Abrams situation is no different than Some of our stories, he Grew up in a culture with parents who worshiped things other than Yahweh

Grew up with a family who began a journey towards change, but gave up halfway through

He grew up in a family who believed in polytheism

Meaning, he grew up with a family that may have acknowledged Yahweh, but they didn’t solely believe in him

Often times today, we may believe in God in a sense, but then also worship things besides him continually unashamedly

Abraham’s parents and Abram Himself is quite relatable to us and our culture today

His family wandered through life walking in a Idolatry living with no direction, Meaning, Or purpose.

And the worst part is, they didn’t even know it

They looked around and said well I’m living the way my parents lived

This is the way things have always been done in my family

They may even say I’m not as bad as my dad was, and the cycle of self deception and justification continued.

But continuing to follow Abram through our text

we see He had taken a wife from among his family,

Sarai And she had bore him no children

She was unable to have children for the time which would’ve brought an extra level of shame upon Abram and his family during that time.

And shame and inability to conceive, may have led them to even deeper idle worship

Since the moon God that they worshiped was the god of fertility and life

But regardless, we see that Abram And his family don’t stay in this land But they begin to move in verse 31

Abram’s father takes his family and begins to head towards the land of Canaan

But along the way, Abram’s father decided to stop in the land of Haran

They do not continue their journey, but they settled in the land

And this area is the very area where the temple to The moon guard named sin would be built

So we see Abram and his family settling in the land of complete idolatry

They live and grow and raise a family in a place where God is not respected, worshiped or known

And the way they worshiped and honored those gods and this would’ve been offensive to the one true God, Yahweh

Things like sexual immorality, for the sake of warship would’ve been common

Abram’s father and siblings and himself may have participated in these styles of worship or at least been OK with their neighbors around them

And we also know That child sacrifice was a common practice of the day

Abram and his family lived amongst these people, In a land of total darkness

And we see in the book of Joshua Abram, and his family are referred to as Idol worshipers

Joshua 24:2 ESV

2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.

So while Abram’s family was journeying to go to what would eventually actually be the promised land they settled

They stopped

They settled in a land full of idolatry and gave themselves into idolatry

And why is this so important? why do we need to understand this about Abram?

The reason is, we need to know Abram and his family settled. They got comfortable with the culture around them.

And we as a Church run the danger of get comfortable With the culture around us as well

We can get comfortable with the world that we live in

And we began to look and act and live and talk like the rest of the world

you see While Abram and his family were stuck in this land

They did not look different… They did not act different… They did not seem different… They were not different

And we’re gonna begin to look at and ask whether we look different whether we act different than our culture around us.

Because Abram’s family Didn’t… until they acted upon the call of God to be different…

Looking at Gen 12 verse one…

This is the moment in Abram’s life where he has called from his culture

He has called from his family’s way of doing things

Into doing things God’s way

Again Abram at this point was not a believer in Yahweh

Abram was an idle worshiper, And yet God was still able to call him and use him for his kingdom

And for you and me today, that should be encouraging

No matter our history… No matter our Family’s legacy… No matter who we have been, God is still calling us to him…

No matter where you and I were yesterday or even today, God is calling us to him

God sees our failures, sees our family see our flaws and see our history and says he wants to give us his victory

The same way God called Abram. He is calling us today.

God looks at our failures Within ourselves and within our families and says I can use that

It all comes down to our response to God’s call it all comes down to Faith

Hebrews 11:8 ESV

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Faith… It’s by faith that we can do family differently… It is by faith that God is in control that we can step out and live the way God has called us

God says to Abram go… He doesn’t give him a step-by-step guide… He doesn’t give him an itinerary. He doesn’t give him a plan he says take action and go and trust me.

You and I today might not know All the steps that we must take to change ourselves and our family for God

But the first step is clear and that’s obedience…

1 John 2:5–6 ESV

5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Acts 5:29 ESV

29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

The first step you and I are called To today is obedience, and obedience is based in faith, not strength, but in Faith

and Faith is living life step-by-step…

Psalm 119:105 ESV

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

God’s Word God’s direction is step-by-step one little lamp at a time

Abram’s first step was faith and today for us our first step is Faith as well

God is calling you and me to have faith and that starts with trusting in Jesus for salvation

God called Abram out in God is calling us out to repent and believe

Romans 10:9 says…

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

James 4:8 ESV

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

The beginning of Abrams journey started with Faith so if you don’t have a relationship with Jesus or faith in, Christ turned to him today…

But for some of us, we may know the Lord is our savior, but we just have not been obedient

We started the journey to doing family differently, but we lost track and got stuck

if thats us its time for us to continue the Journey in faith

This is a wake up call for us to continue on and fight the good fight

The Bible says to run the race

If we want our lives and families to be done differently, we need to know how to do family differently

And that starts with daily reading of scripture

Daily… ourselves…. Individuals reading scripture

as parents, grandparents and families, Setting the example reading the Bible for our ourselves and growing in our relationship with God

Drawing near to him…

In prayer…

In reading… and in worship…

As we began to set the example, we also gained the tools needed to disciple mentor and answer your questions for our family and our kids.

We have an opportunity to teach our kids about the most important thing in the world, and that is Jesus

We have the opportunity to emphasize something that’s more important than anything else and that’s a relationship with God

It starts with us… We must draw near to God…

Again, you and I set the example

Not just our kids, but our family members and our neighbors are watching and seeing how we live

Do we live, intentionally as an example of Jesus?

You, our actions and behaviors match that of a Christian?

Do we walk in the same way that Jesus walked?

Because the reality is people are watching whether they are our family members or our kids

And just like the story at the beginning, they will learn from us and quite possibly mimic our behavior without question

So are we being examples of Jesus?

And when it comes to our kids, are we intentionally raising our kids to know Jesus is the only one worthy of worship???

They see our Our culture is number one priority Is That their kids are successful

Our culture wants their kids to be famous rich, stable, successful and praised by their neighbors…

And these are not bad things, but they are not the best things and we must keep that in mind…

as Christians are number one priority should be that our kids have a saving relationship with Jesus

And not just have a saving relationship with Jesus, a relationship that leads to a passion to share the gospel with others

Abraham was given the command to go just like you and I were given the command to go

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

And when we look at this parallel passage within Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

This pattern is seen in act 1:8, And this pattern indicates starting where you are at we are called to Go and that begins at home

We are to begin our evangelism at home,

In Christian families Discipleship is our number one priority

We should be discipling our family’s

And we should be sharing the gospel with them growing in the knowledge of the word

As families is this, our number one priority

I love kids ministry and I love student ministry, but what our family team does it across our locations is tries to help the parents lead their kids and their students

But the ultimate responsibility of discipleship is on our families

Mark loves your kids, but I can tell you he doesn’t love them as as much as you do

And you taking the time to have a Bible study and talk about kids church with your children could make the difference for their salvation

Now, I want to encourage you

Start sharing notes with your kids after church

Start having worship in the car together and spending time in prayer

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 ESV

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

We are called to have scripture and a relationship with God on our heart and to teach our kids About it as well. We are called to do family differently

Don’t do family The same way as the rest of our culture just because that’s how it’s done

Don’t do family the way your parents did just because that’s how it was done

But look into everything and be intentional and what we do with our families

Our families should follow the chief end of man, the purpose of man

and According to the Westminster, confession of faith, the complete purpose of man “is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”

That is what our families should be known by

glorifying God and enjoying him every day

That is our purpose and that is our aim while we try to do family differently

I’m not saying that we can do it perfectly but it’s about having faith that Christ will work through our obedience

And I wanna make it clear right now Proverbs 22:6, Is wisdom literature, not a promise not a guarantee

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

It’s not guaranteed and that’s a bit scary

But all we can do is trust God and have faith in him and know that he is good

And we can control our relationship with the Lord

Because if one day I have a family and I have kids and they don’t know the Lord I pray that they would know that their dad does

That they would be able to look at my life and say you know, dad wasn’t perfect and he sucked a lot, but he consistently loved God

it starts with us and then it overflows into our families and through that overflow there will be a ripple effect and we will see God move

It started with Abram And then we saw an overflow into the rest of his family in a ripple effect that affects us today… It starts with you and me choosing to do family and life differently

I want to tell a story about one family in particular before we close tonight

Josh Morris story:

Student growth community

New family

Dad came to Christ gave up sports for his kids so that he could mentor his kids

Now his kids have come to Christ…

Conclusion:

I can’t tell you how God’s telling you to live differently. I don’t know you specifically I don’t know your families.

But this week seek the Lord daily… And ask the Lord for wisdom on how to do family differently

The first step is Faith… faith in Christ for salvation faith in Christ for direction and faith in Christ for provision…

Let’s pray

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