Blessed to be a blessing IV

Galatians 3: 6 Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.

Review

Abram had to leave all to follow God
Abram had to learn to trust God and not move till he said. (Go to the land I will show you)
Abram had to separate from things that were hindering him (selfishness) from receiving the full blessing of God.

Genesis 12: 1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

“If you believe you will leave”

* Two part Abrahamic blessing

Abram had to learn to trust God and not move till he said. (Go to the land I will show you)

Go to the land I will show you

Following God is a process not a once and for all thing.
they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there

Genesis 12: 6-20 13:1-3 The house of God to a place between the House of God and the place of ruin. Then to a dry place and then into Bondage(Egypt). There he was almost destroyed. He then returned to the dry place, wandered around a while before returning to the House of God.

Abram had to separate from things that were hindering him from receiving the full blessing of God.

Genesis 13:8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers.

9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” 10 Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:

The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him

The lord waited for Lot to leave before he gave him the rest of the promise, WHY?

The Lord never intended for Lot to come with Abram. Gen 12:1-3 were some great blessings, do you think that Lot wanted a part of them?
Lot was eating up the blessings of Abram.

2 Peter 2: 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—
Lot was a righteous but, selfish, man.

What made him righteous? He believed God too, but for the wrong reason. The promise was to Abram, all he heard was I will bless you…( Iguess he didin’t hear the part that he would use Abram to BE A BLESSING!

What is it the Lord wants to separate from us?

The part that wants to hold onto God just for the blessing and never become a blessing to others.

It seems to be possible to be blessed and never come into the greatest blessings until this selfishness is gone.

Today

14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.

Lift up your eyes

Lift up? Yes lift them up from yourself. Abram probably was like you and me, when there was strife, separation, feeling alone, recognition of sin (Lot came with him) we tend to look at ourselves.
But Selfishness limits our ability to see

beyond ourselves

Beyond our problems (fighting with Lot, growth etc…)
Our thoughts
Feelings
Fears

Selfishness is looking at everything according to how it affects US!

From where you are

Not where you think you should be (future)
Not where you have been (past)
Right from where you are now.

Now

Spiritually,
Soul-ishly (Mind, will and emotions)
Physically

Look

north and south, east and west = No limit to what God can give * All the land that you see I will give

All that you see – I will give. If you can’t see it I can’t give it to you!

Now wait a minute that is unfair!

How far could an old man see?
How far can a man see? That’s not very much!

Was there land beyond what he could see with his physical eyes? Of Course there was.

I think God was telling him to see with more than his Physical eyes.
Hebrews 11: 1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.(with our natural eyes)

I will give

You will take? You will claim? You will… No I will says the Lord!

To you and your offspring forever.

God’s promises are eternal.
The land he gives is more than physical. Leave your country! Can you see the new country yet? Are we still fighting over physical land (Israel) or have we seen the eternal Kingdom that is there for us and our children?

Go

walk through the length and breadth of the land,

Just like the spies in the time of Moses, they were supposed to be spying out the Land how good it was; instead they only saw the Giants and the difficulties.

For I am giving it to you.”

Two ways of looking at something. Something that belongs to someone else and something that belongs to you.

NEXT WEEK

Going to Hebron — a community; alliance

God intended Abram to be his people! An alliance with God *

Genesis 17: 3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

Leave this country: The place of familiarity: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you
People: The place where he could depend on people for help: I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing
Father’s household: I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”