FORWARD (BY FAITH)

HEBREWS 11:8 - BY FAITH ABRAHAM, WHEN HE WAS CALLED, OBEYED AND SET OUT FOR A PLACE THAT HE WAS GOING TO RECEVE AS AN INHERITANCE. HE WENT OUT, EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOT KNOW WHERE HE WAS GOING. 9) BY FAITH HE STAYED AS A FOREIGNER IN THE LAND OF PROMISE, LIVING IN TENTS AS DID ISAAC AND JACOB, COHEIRS OF THE SAME PROMISE. 10) FOR HE WAS LOOKING FORWARD TOTHE CITY THAT HAS FOUNDATIONS, WHOSE ARCHITECT AND BUILDER IS GOD.

BIG IDEA: GOD IS CALLING US TO NEW TERRITORY, AS WE AWAIT THE SAVIOR’S ASSURED RETURN!

HOW DO YOU GO TO A PLACE THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW OF?

HOW WILL YOU KNOW THAT YOU’VE ARRIVED, IF YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE IT IS? - THE ANSWER IS “BY FAITH!”

THIS IS THE FAITHFUL - FORWARD SOJOURN OF FATHER ABRAHAM.

ABRAHAM ENTERS THE SCENE IN GENESIS 11:27, WHERE WE LEARN ABOUT HIS FATHER AND HIS FATHER’S FATHER...

HE TRAVELS WITH HIS FATHER, WIFE AND NEPHEW TO THE HARAN, WHERE THEY SETTLE...

AND THEN, GOD SPEAKS: 12:1 - THE LORD SAID TO ABRAM: GO OUT FROM YOUR LAND, YOUR RELATIVES AND YOU FATHER’S HOUSE TO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU. 2) I WILL MAKE YOU INTO A GREAT NATION. I WILL BLESS YOU, I WILL MAKE YOUR NAME GREAT, AND YOU WILL BE A BLESSING. 3) I WILL BLESS THOSE WHO BLESS YOU, I WILL CURSE ANYONE WHO TREATS YOU WITH CONTEMPT, AND ALL THE PEOPLES ON EARTH WILL BE BLESSED THROUGH YOU. 4) SO ABRAM WENT.....

THE LORD GOD SOVEREIGNLY SELECTS ABRAM OR ABRAHAM TO BE AN HEIR - THE RECIPIENT OF A GENERATIONAL PROMISE…A COVENANT (IF YOU WILL)...

AND EVEN IN 2021, WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE CO-HEIRS WITH THIS SAME PROMISE THROUGH CHRIST JESUS…AIN’T-A-THAT GOOD NEWS?

AWWW, SO IN GENESIS, ABRAM GOES FROM (CALL TO COVENANT). THE LORD PRONOUNCES A GENERATIONAL BLESSING AND ANNOUNCES THAT ABRAM WOULD BE HIS MAN...

THIS CALL IS PICKED UP IN OUR MOTTO TEXT OF HEBREWS 11:8, WHERE ABRAM’S RESPONSE IS DOCUMENTED:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 11

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance.

IN THE SAME SENSE, AS RECORDED IN GENESIS 12, WE READ: 4) SO ABRAM WENT.....

OBEDIENCE IS AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE! (BY FAITH)

VS. 8: BY FAITH ABRAHAM, WHEN HE WAS CALLED, OBEYED...

GEN. 12:4 - SO ABRAM WENT...

BELOVED, I COMMAND YOU (FOR THE SAKE OF SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS) TO GET YOU SOME “WENT!”

“WENT” TO OBEY THE CALL OF GOD UPON YOUR LIFE.

“WENT” TO RECEIVE THE INSTRUCTION FROM GOD FOR YOUR LIFE!

“WENT” IN TRUSTING GOD’S GUIDANCE OVER YOUR LIFE...

GET YOU SOME “WENT!”

THE TEXT SAYS: WHEN HE WAS CALLED, OBEYED AND SET OUT FOR A PLACE HAT HE WAS GOING TO RECEIVE AS AN INHERITANCE. HE WENT OUT, EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOT KNOW WHERE HE WAS GOING...

I GET IT! WE WANT CLARITY - DIRECTION - A DEFINED ROUTE!

CLARITY COMES WITH YOUR “WENT!”

FEW DAYS AGO, I WAS RIDING WITH THE KIDS AND THE FOG WAS DENSE. SIMONE WANTED ME TO STOP, BECAUSE SHE COULDN’T SEE…SO I HAD TO TEACH HER THAT AS WE GO, OUR VISION IMPROVES.

OBEDIENCE IS AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE!

LIKE THE TEN LEPERS IN LUKE 17. THE TEXT SAYS, “AS THEY WENT...”

SPEND MORE TIME WITH GOD IN PRAYER AND IN HIS WORD, THEN YOU WILL KNOW HIS GUIDANCE OVER YOUR OWN....

GO WHERE YOU KNOW HE’S SENDING YOU NOW.

NOT ONLY OBEDIENCE IS AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE, SECONDLY,

PATIENCE IS A NECESSARY RESPONSE (BY FAITH)

9) BY FAITH HE STAYED AS A FOREIGNER IN THE LAND OF PROMISE, LIVING IN TENTS AS DID ISAAC AND JACOB, COHEIRS OF THE SAME PROMISE.

ABRAHAM WAS “ON” IT, BUT DID NOT “OWN” IT!

THE LAND WAS HIS, BUT THE DEED WAS NOT RELEASED...

SO, WHAT DO YOU DO UNTIL THE PROMISE IS FULFILLED? YOU WAIT!

YOU ONLY GET TO THE “WAIT” AFTER YOU’VE EXERCISED SOME “WENT!”

FORWARD - FORWARD!!

BY GOING FORWARD (IN THE COMMANDED DIRECTION), ABRAHAM MODELED FAITH!

PATIENCE IS A NECESSARY RESPONSE (BY FAITH)

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Ten: Faith—The Greatest Power in the World (Hebrews 11)

Yet true faith is able to wait for the fulfillment of God’s purposes in God’s time. But, while we are waiting, we must also be obeying.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Ten: Faith—The Greatest Power in the World (Hebrews 11)

Dr. George Morrison, a great Scottish preacher, once said, “The important thing is not what we live in, but what we look for.”

BEING A FOREIGNER IN A STRANGE LAND REQUIRES PATIENCE....(LIVING IN TENTS)!

RECITE HIS PROMISE

REMEMBER HIS POWER

AWW BELOVED: OBEDIENCE IS AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE! PATIENCE IS A NECESSARY RESPONSE (BOTH BY FAITH)...

FINALLY,

ASSURANCE IS THE FAITHFUL RESPONSE

10) FOR HE WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO THE CITY THAT HAS FOUNDATIONS, WHOSE ARCHITECT AND BUILDER IS GOD!

ABRAHAM WAS A STRANGER AND A PILGRIM IN A FOREIGN LAND, AND YET HIS ASSURANCE WAS BEYOND THE PHYSICAL ACQUISITION, AND REACHED INTO THE HEAVENLY ACQUISITION!

BIG IDEA: GOD IS CALLING US TO NEW TERRITORY, AS WE AWAIT THE SAVIOR’S ASSURED RETURN!

SEE BELOVED, WHILE ABRAHAM WAITS HIS EXPECTATIONS ARE RAISED...

ABRAHAM LONGS FOR HIS HEAVENLY HOME…HIS ASSURANCE IN WHO CALLED HIM HELPED HIM TO LONG TO BE WITH THE ONE WHO CALLED HIM!!!

DO YOU LONG FOR HEAVEN?

"Resurrection"

I'm homesick This body's a tent, Heavens where home is I guess it's safe to say that God's people Are homeless

We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning Heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about "pie in the sky," and of being told that we are trying to "escape from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere." But either there is "pie in the sky" or there is not. If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric. If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be faced, whether it is useful at political meetings or no.

C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain.

BE ASSURED THAT GOD’S PROMISES WILL BE FULFILLED: THE REALITY OF WHAT IS HOPED FOR...

BE ASSURED THAT GOD’S WAYS ARE UNKNOWN, BUT TRUSTWORTHY...

A little girl was taking an evening walk with her father. Wonderingly, she looked up at the stars and exclaimed; "Oh, Daddy, if the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what must the right side be!" 

Charles L. Allen in Home Fires.