Is not the whole land before you?
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Genesis 13
Genesis 13
Pray
Start in Genesis 12:7
Remind everyone of the events of Genesis 12
God calls Abram to follow.
God promises to build a legacy of blessing through Abram’s faithfulness.
Abram, by the grace of God, follows.
God shows Abram the land of promise.
God shows Abram a land that is fertile.
Click #1
1. God invites Abram to be part of a covenant.
This imagery serves as a metaphor concerning our faith.
Remember a few weeks ago we talked about Types and Shadows.
Abram serves as a type and shadow of faithfulness and trust.
In our willingness to follow, God can bless us.
In our trust of God, He will lead us to place of peace and safety.
Click #2
2. Our faith grants us the opportunity to dwell in the land of promise.
The land of promise is being in covenant with God.
Saved by the grace of Jesus.
It is our faith that allows us to dwell in the peace of God.
As we walk in faith, God can begin to establish us as the person we are meant to be.
He will begin to equip us to walk in our calling.
He will bolster us with strength to endure hardship.
Abram serves as an example of faithfulness.
These are truths that we can glean from Abram’s trust.
The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Click #3
3. Because Abram was willing to follow, God was able to bless.
God was able to lead Abram to a place of blessing.
God shows Abram the land, the promise.
God reminds Abram that the promise is for him.
In faith Abram gained access to the land of promise.
Remember, it is the same for us.
Not only was the promise for Abram, it was also for his offspring.
Abram’s children were benefactors of Abram’s faith.
This is the point that I want you to remember.
If you get anything out of today, I pray that this resonates with you.
God asked Abram to follow.
He asked Abram to take a step of faith, toward a land of promise.
Abram followed and God could work.
The same principal applies to us.
In our willingness to follow, God can work.
In our willingness to follow, God can bless.
In our willingness to follow, God can equip.
In our willingness to follow, God can strengthen.
In our willingness to follow, God can encourage.
In our willingness to follow, God can restore.
In our willingness to walk in covenant with Jesus we can walk in promise.
God can and will bless those who are willing to follow, but ultimately, just like Abram, the true benefactor is our offspring or the next generation.
The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Click #4
4. Our faithfulness to God prepares the soil of those who follow after.
This is the heart of our faith.
The heart of our faith is to build a foundation of truth for those who we are in contact.
We should be building monuments of faith for the next generation so that they can remember.
Click #5
5. We should be preparing the soil so that the next generation can reap the crop.
The more intentional we are in tending to our faith, the better able is the next generation to grow and find security in the hope of the Lord.
Move to Genesis 13
Not going to look at this verse by verse.
I am going to use the chapter as a springboard for something I want you to consider.
Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 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.”
Explain the famine at end of chapter 12
Abram took his family to Egypt to find food.
Abram left Egypt and settled in Canaan.
The land that they settled was not adequate to sustain the livestock.
Because of this quarreling arose with the herdsman.
Fortunately Abram and Lot recognized the conflict and they came up with a solution
Our focus is often on the separation.
They split ways.
Our minds often go to this detail because it is familiar.
We all will face conflict.
It is in how we choose to handle the conflict that is important.
I love the account of these individuals in our Bible because they show us the shortcomings of humanity.
Abram was just like us.
We can look at the examples in our Bible to help inform our decisions.
What I want you to consider the discernment leading up to this decision.
Abram recognized that the strife between the herdsman could cause a rift to develop with Lot.
Abram cherished his fellowship with Lot.
Abram did not want to allow this difficulty to destroy fellowship.
Abram decided to act in a way that was in preservation of fellowship.
Click #6
6. Abram chose to focus on the blessing rather than the conflict.
The blessing of faith is in our witness to those who follow.
The blessing of our faith is that we have the opportunity to plant the seeds of hope to those who come after.
We should be building monuments for the next generation so that they can remember.
This was the focus of Abram.
He looked to the blessing of being a Godly witness in the situation.
He chose not to allow the difficulty of the situation to cause him to loose hope.
Abram chose not to focus on the problem, but the solution.
I want to just consider our walk of faith for a moment.
So often we get bogged down in the temporal.
we get bogged down with the difficulty of the day.
We allow the difficulty, conflict struggle to consume our attention.
Because we often choose to allow the difficulty of the day to consume us, we get frustrated.
We get angry.
Confused.
Defeated.
Burdened.
Anxious.
These emotions grab and hold onto our attention.
Because we often allow negativity to dwell in our minds, we are tempted to argue.
quarrel, fight,
Turn to the book of James
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
what is the common thread in these verses?
I am looking for a simple one letter word.
The word I.
James tells us that anyone who chooses to be a friend to the world is an enemy to God.
The world wants us to focus on the self.
The world wants us to be centered on our own desires.
We throw temper tantrums when we cannot get our own way.
James tells us that this is the catalyst for conflict.
In this world we will have struggle.
We live in a world that is fallen to the influence of sin.
Click #7
7. The only true peace we will ever experience in this life is found in Jesus.
The lesson is to do our best to not focus so much on the temporal.
The things that are passing.
Our task is to call upon Jesus to help us focus on the eternal.
When we turn our attention to our Savior, He will help us cope with the struggle of the fallen world.
Our Savior tells us in the book of Matthew.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Don’t focus on what we want from the desires of our sinful condition.
Focus on what is better.
Turn back to Genesis
To connect what James talks about with the account of Abram, we see Abram focusing on what is better.
We see that Abram chose a solution that would serve as a witness of God’s blessing.
Look at Genesis 13:8-9
Abram recognizes the potential for conflict between himself and Lot.
So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 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.”
Is not the whole land before you?
Is not the whole land before you?
8. In other words, is not the whole blessing of God before us.
Is not the whole blessing of God before us?
Let us not stand here and bicker.
Let us go out into the field and get to work.
God shows Abram the promise.
He shows Abram the blessing.
Abram simply had to make the choice to walk into it.
We see in this account a place of decision.
On one hand, conflict and stagnation.
In the conflict Abram and Lot would have stagnated, stalled out and become bitter.
On the other hand, we see hope.
We see freedom.
We see abundance in the blessing of God.
We see peace.
We see prosperity.
In this account, we have conflict or blessing.
We have a choice.
The choice is ours.
9. Will you allow the conflicts you will face to distract you?
Or will you press into the Lord to seek His wisdom to help you walk into His blessing?
Talk briefly about those who suffer from chronic illness.
I cannot relate
it must be incredibly difficult each day.
But they continue to press on.
they continue to hold onto hope.
This is the only hope any of us has.
I never drove a big tractor.
I have a lawn mower.
It has a 5 HP engine.
I never drove a big tractor but I would imagine that it is easier to keep a straight line when looking toward the horizon.
If we allow ourselves to get distracted by all of the little obstacles, taking our eyes off of the horizon we will have chaos.
Click #10
10. When we take our eyes off of God and His Word, we will have difficulty.
Keep your eyes on what God speaks over you.
Last point, but probably the most important.
The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Is not the whole land before us?
Is not the whole land before us?
We must walk in the hope of our Salvation.
Not allowing the deception of this world to cause us to consume us.
We must follow, because ultimately the blessing, the crop of our faith is for our children.
Click #11
11. We cannot allow our sin nature to prevent our children from seeing the promise.
Don’t allow conflict to take your eyes off of the horizon.
Don’t allow difficulty to prevent you from walking in the promises of God.
Click #12
12. Don’t allow the enemy to prevent your life from being a living example to the next generation.
Is not the whole land before you?
This is your inheritance.
Step into it.
Close by reading the a portion of the book: The pursuit of Holiness.
Out job is to be working in the field.
Following the lead of the Lord.
We are to be doing the work of faith so that God can lead us and bless us.
We must be building a witness of faith for those that look upon us.
When you go out from this place, you enter into your work field.
Explain the prelude at end of service.
Benediction: Galatians 6:6-10
The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.