An Invitation
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Genesis 12:1-6
Genesis 12:1-6
Pray
Review the close of Chapter 11
Abram’s name was changed later to Abraham.
The end of Genesis 11 is a genealogy.
We learn that Abram’s father is named Terah.
Terah lived in the land of Ur
This is where Abram was born.
Ur is a city in the Kingdom of Assyria.
It was located in the southern region what is today modern Iraq near the Persian Gulf.
Genesis 11 tells us that Terah left Ur to travel to Canaan.
Canaan is a region that encompassed Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and parts of southern Syria.
Terah took his family with the intention to go to Canaan, but during the travel, they decided to settle in a city known as Harran.
Harran is also in Assyria
It is desolate now.
The city is thought to have been located in the modern day country of Turkey. Harran was a wealthy city because it was on a trade route.
Terah and his family decided to settle there because of was a city of opportunity.
We know that Assyria was a pagan empire.
Not only was it pagan, it was an empire that was renown for its brutality.
They worshipped gods of all sorts. The nation contained numerous Temples dedicated to pagan gods.
Tradition holds that Terah was an idol maker.
It is believed that Terah earned a living crafting idols to serve in the worship of these pagan gods.
Terah became fairly wealthy from this trade.
It is also believed that Abram was most likely being educated to follow in the family business.
This would have been a lucrative business considering the extent of idol worship in that region.
This brings us to Genesis 12:1
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;
Remember Abram was in Assyria.
He was in a trade that provided a comfortable living.
He was in a place that had become familiar.
He was most likely comfortable.
God intervenes and calls Abram out of all of this.
God calls Abram to leave his country.
God calls Abram to leave his family business behind.
Click #1
1. God calls Abram to leave behind that which is familiar, comfortable and secure.
God says leave all of this for something that I will show you.
Abram was not even completely sure of what God was promising.
God says leave your familiarity with this world behind.
Step into covenant with a Kingdom that is eternal.
So many things we can talk about with just this verse alone.
Click #2
2. When we step into faith, God calls us to leave sin behind and follow.
He calls us to be different.
We have been talking about this over the past few weeks.
This metaphor given with Abram is an illustration of what God asks of us.
We are to be called out.
And we are to step into a new life.
Click #3
3. God also asks us to trust in His leading.
At this point in Abram was not sure of what God was calling him to do.
God simply said to follow.
This is a matter of trust.
It took a willingness to trust God on the part of Abram.
This also speaks to our call.
When we put our faith in Jesus, we are to leave behind many things that are familiar in our sinful self.
In some cases like Abram, God just asks us to follow.
We may not be entirely sure of where God will lead.
He simply says to us to trust.
My Testimony
Trust His Word.
Trust in the promises He speaks over us.
Trust in the person that God calls us to be.
God will always call us up.
Click #4
4. God sees us as the person that He designed.
5. He does not see us in our failures, mistakes or sins.
He sees us for who we truly are.
Our job is to allow Him to lead us to be that person.
Our task is to allow Him to direct our steps so that He can equip us.
He will show us/ equip us in our willingness
We have to trust in His word
trust in what he is leading in our heart
The hardest aspect in following the leading of the Lord is taking the first step.
this speaks of Baptism or making a confession of faith.
It also speaks to trusting in the leading of the Lord in something He is asking you to do.
We have to be willing to follow and trust that He knows where He is leading us.
So often the problem comes with us.
The problem is found in our willingness to follow and to trust.
Not saying we all have to quit our jobs.
What I am saying is that all of us should feel a nudge in our heart to take a step of faith.
For some, it may be to teach.
For others, it may be to serve on a team or to take on a leadership role.
It may be just to visit with someone that you do not know very well.
God will encourage us in many ways.
Our task is to be receptive and respond to the nudging.
Give example of Rick. he was not looking to get into youth ministry.
And Pastor Chris.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 1:25-30
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Paul is saying that what is perceived of God as foolishness from the sinful human perspective is wiser that all human wisdom.
The Greek word Paul uses for foolishness is moros meaning nonsense.
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6. The world perceives faith, the Bible, God’s truth to be foolishness.
The perceived foolishness of faith, confounds those who are wise from the human perspective.
God chooses the weak things to confound the strong.
God chooses those who, by human standards do not appear to be capable.
In the individuals willingness to be used of God, He makes them strong.
Example is King David.
The people chose Saul.
God chose David.
God chose David because David was willing. David trusted God.
V.27
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
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7. From a human standpoint looking at the call on Abram’s life to leave what he was comfortable with seems foolish.
For me, to leave a career that was comfortable from the human perspective seems foolish.
Pastor Chris shares a similar testimony.
The call on Cynthia and Kelly’s lives seems foolish in the eyes of humanity.
They trusted the nudge of God in our hearts to follow.
For Rick, to step into a ministry that he had no intent to work in, seemed foolish.
There are many other examples I could name that serve as evidence of trust.
Click #8
8. God uses what seems to be foolishness in the eyes of mankind, to bring glory to Himself.
This serves as a testimony of His truth, provision and mercy.
Turn back to Genesis 12
“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. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
This is a promise given by God to Abram.
The promise is contingent upon Abram’s willingness to follow.
Not yet Abrahamic Covenant that officially is in chapter 17 where God uses the term covenant.
This is an invitation to a covenant.
Click #9
9. God is inviting Abram to be part of the story.
10. Like Abram, God invites us.
God invites us to be part of the story as well.
He invites us onto the covenant.
He invites us into the blessing.
He invites us into Salvation.
The task is to accept.
When we accept the invitation, He can bless us.
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11. When we begin to follow, trusting in His perfect will for our lives, He can equip us.
When we listen to the things that God speaks over our lives, we can be encouraged to endure.
We can be strengthened to be the person God sees us as.
We are part of this promise.
We are a people who are blessed because of the faith of Abram.
We can look to this example as an encouragement for our own faith.
God provides all that we need to walk in the invitation.
Jesse L point that we will be blessed in our willingness to follow
Genesis 12:4-6
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
Never stop listening for the call of the Lord.
Click #12
12. Never stop being willing to follow.