Leave Everything Behind – Part 1

This is a engram lots.

I want you to get to know God personally intimately as his friend live in the light of his word.

This is living in the line and grandma Anne's desire is that you be drawn into a life changing relationship with God through his word and in her series of messages from the life of Abraham. She will challenge you to embrace the God filled life, making him your magnificent Obsession. I set out on a pilgrimage to get to know God.

And the thing that triggered my journey, about 28 years ago was not study of the life of Abraham and Abraham was someone who sat out and got to know God and in the end of his life. God described his relationship with Abraham as a friendship. Abraham is that God is my friend.

It was God who said Abraham is my friend and I thought I want to know God like that. I want to know him and make him known. I want to receive his blessing and be a channel of blessing for others.

I want to receive and live up to the full potential that he had in mind for me when he created, and that is my magnificent Obsession and I'm going to be urging you every which way I know to embrace the magnificent Obsession for yourself that you would pursue.

Knowing God, and that you would want to know them better today than you did yesterday and better tomorrow than you do today and all of us would continue to grow in our knowledge of him, but in order to do that we have to leave everything behind and let everything go and trust everything completely to him, and cast everything out that might hinder us in that pursuit of knowing him we have to lift everything up in prayer and we have to lay everything down absolute surrender and that's where were going.

I remember years ago now was given the message of this large secular convention and it was a prayer breakfast and so naïve, may I thought prayer breakfast, you know, I could give a message about Jesus and saw that I just did my best to exalt Jesus and finish my message the MC got in the podium and he stood there and he put his head on his hand like this and he looked down at me and he said very scathingly. Mrs. lots we think you need to understand that we all have our own gods and some of us calling Mohammed some of us: Buddha and some of us calling Messiah.

Some of us may calling Jesus and I didn't say anything that I finished my message but inside myself. I was thinking I want to know God like that. I want to know God, the way some people say he might be like. I want to know about the name some people calling. I want to know him by hearsay. I want to know him as he is. If there is a got up in heaven, then surely we can know him. If he reveals himself and want to know him by the names he calls himself. I want to know God as he know I like a lot genuine in his power and not the norm, like Isaiah knew him in his glory, and I want to know.

I like Jeremiah knew in his faithfulness to no one like Mary knew him in his humanity.

The Bible says that God is the same yesterday today and forever yes and change. So if I don't know him in the way that those people did then it's nothing wrong with God something must be wrong with me, which open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 12 and were going to begin with, leaving everything behind and this is of course Abraham's call to follow and pursue God's Genesis chapter 12 beginning in verse one the Lord said to Abram, leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. 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. So Abraham left as the Lord and told him, and Lot went with him.

Abram was 75 years old when he set out from Herrin. He took his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot all the possessions that accumulated the people they'd acquired in Haran, and they set up for the land of Canaan and they arrived there.

Abram traveled to the land as far as the site of the great tree of mar at Shechem. The Canaanites were there in the land with the Lord appeared to Abram and said your offspring I will give this land to build an altar there to the Lord would appear doing.

From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the Western AR on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord, then Abram set out and continued toward the negative. Now there was a famine in the land and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe as he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarah. I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you they will say this is his wife. Then they will kill me, but will let you live so you are my sister so that will be treated well for your sake in my life will be spared because of you and Abram came to Egypt and the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman.

And when Pharaoh's officials saw her. They praised it a Pharaoh and she was taken into its powers.

He treated Abram well for his sake and Abram required sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys menservants and maidservants, and camels. But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarah Pharaoh summoned Abram, what have you done to me.

He said why didn't you tell me she was your wife why did you say she is not sister took her to be my wife now then here is your wife take her and get out of Egypt and Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men and they sent him on his way with his wife and everything he had. So Abram went up from Egypt to the negative with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abraham had become very wealthy and livestock silver and gold from the Gav. He went from place to place until he came to the place between Bethel and AR were his tent had been earlier where you first built an altar and their Abram called on the name of the Lord's years ago the Roman set out to conquer England's history tells us that they laid siege to the British Isles and they just put up a naval blockade to try to choke inguinal from the rest of the world and even refused to surrender and one morning the English people looked out of the cottages that were on the coast and they saw the Roman ships out on the sea set on fire. They were ablaze and the Romans were coming to shore and rowboats and the English knew that the Romans would either conquer them or die trying. Because it burned their ships behind them and I think that's a brief illustration of what's Taking Pl. in Abram's life as he seeks to pursue God, and know him and receive his fullness of his blessing in his life and be a channel of blessing to others. He is leaving everything in his burning his bridges is burning a ships and just leaving it all behind that he might pursue knowing God, and you want to know God's you want to know God as he is known today very much like that.

MC told me we all seem to have our own gods and we are out all these different gods, all these different religions today, but there's your heartburn to know the one true living God and knowing personally and not knowing the status quo like people just warm the pews and you know just go with the same old same old but do you really want to know some of those Old Testament characters.

Did you want to know and like Abraham doing then you have to leave everything behind and you have to leave behind the familiar. And that's what I'm describing her as just a familiar place it your comfort zone.

What is your comfort zone. You are going to church on Sunday to belong to a church how long you been members for a long time and comfortable even in your ministry opportunities.

Teaching Sunday school and the way you been doing it comfortable with the gospel comfortable with the Scriptures come forward your prayer life comfortable with your relationships comfortable with the opportunities that you had just living a very familiar, comfortable life and Abraham was to he was living in Ur of the Chaldees, archaeologist Telus was a very cosmopolitan sophisticated civilize said it wasn't like Black Mountain was like Asheville.

It was sort of like Atlanta or maybe New York.

It was hub of international activity. They had a medical school there.

They had a university that had a library of over 200,000 tablets.

They had wide boulevards that crisscross the city that were lined with palm trees. The houses were plastered, whitewashed and then painted in pastel colors and I kid you not. The houses had central heating, running water, indoor plumbing. This is not some backwoods city. This was a very comfortable, beautiful, exciting place to live and Abraham was living in.

That was his comfort zone and were told that his father was Tara in the New Testament tells us that Tara was not altar so Abram was raised in a family where they'll have their own gods and he was familiar with the other religions and other gods, and other ways of worshiping God and familiar with comfortable things and an easy life. I wonder if you just began to get restless in his spirits and the Bible doesn't tell us this, but from what transpired. I'm guessing that he did. Maybe it was when he saw the sun come up every morning and go down every evening.

Maybe when he observed the stars are all in their pattern. Maybe it was when he witnessed the migratory habits of the birds and maybe saw the birth of a baby and was of something in them that just said you know there's got to be something or someone out there that's bigger than me and I wonder when he went to cut a business deal and had opportunity to cheat the other person.

Something inside him said don't do that. That's not right and he didn't and afterwards he was thinking.

Abraham you why did you do that because you could've made more money if you just keep him in.

How do you know it was wrong was their witness and creation and a witness in his conscience that was telling him. There was someone or something out there that was much more real than these idols of wood and stone, and things that when is how and I don't know what it was. I just sensed that there was a restlessness in his spirit, and that he was longing in reaching out to God because God just leans out of all the people living on planet Earth. Think about it all the people living on planet Earth. God just leans out of heaven and invades Abram's and I think there had to be restless, have you been restless in your spirit is something stirring you up. You just want more. And it was something and Abraham was just wanting more than what he had at that point God leaned out of heaven and gave him a personal command Abraham I want you to leave your country, your kindred and your father's house how much you leave everything behind Abram. You got to leave your comfort zone.

You want to know me you want to make me know if you want to be blessed. If you want to be a blessing to others and you have to leave your comfort zone. Get out of her and leave it all behind. Listen to me what your comfort zone. That which is familiar to you. You have to leave if you really want to know God in his fullness, and I don't mean to leave it willy-nilly. You know like you just going to jump off some building or something. I mean when he commands you, then you leave this like Peter in Matthew chapter 14 in the boat that was his comfort zone. He was a fisherman.

He was familiar with the inside of about even when it was in the miss of the storm on galley invented many storms on Galilee season with the other disciples in the midst of the storm and he sees Jesus walking on the water and he says Jesus is that you and Jesus is yes and she's exhibits you bid me come in Jesus to Peter you can come.

And Peter stepped out of his comfort zone. He climbed over the edge of the boat and he walked on the water and you know we focus on Peter, you know, taking his eyes off Jesus and crashing in the waves in Jesus pulling him up in but don't ever forget that Peter walked on the water and then they walked back on the water. I'm assuming to get back into the boat and then you remember when Jesus rebuked him and he said oh ye of little faith, think he was rebuking Peter what he rebuking the other disciples. Oh ye of little faith, stuck in your comfort zone. You can experience the thrill and adventure of walking on water view just been willing to get out of your boat and you know the disciples in the boat, but no Jesus and they can know God, you can know God in your boat in your comfort zone but it's in sort of a limited way in a small way. It's not the magnificent Obsession Peter embrace magnificent Obsession he wanted out. God right out there on the surface of the water and that was Abraham and he had received a personal command leave everything behind and on my life, I've received that command. I wonder if God would give it to you the personal command 19 times in these few verses God uses the pronoun, are you this is God speaking personally to Abraham. God speaks personally to you and me through his word several years ago I was in a circle of people and was included several people including my family, my parents, my mother and father and my father was speaking to everybody in the circle and then he looked right at me and he said amen and I knew he was still speaking to the circle but he was addressing me and now he's speaking directly to me and had my name on it and you know when we open our Bibles. God is speaking to everybody because the Bible is God's word, but there are times when a verse or phrase just leaps up off the page and is God's word with your name on this is God's word with Abram's name on I wonder if God would say to you if you want to pursue him. And if you want to know him in his fullness.

If you want to embrace magnificent Obsession and you got to leave behind the familiar leave everything your country you kindred your father's house the way you will raise some of the things of been programmed into mindsets, attitudes, and doesn't have to be dramatic like going to Asia going to Africa can be just leaving the comfort zone of your home and going across the street during slave labor, and sharing Christ. They can be just leaving the comfort zone of the bad early in the morning.

We want 15 more minutes of sleep, and you get out of that comfortable place in order to pursue knowing God on your knee. You see you leave your comfort zone leave behind the familiar. That's a personal command. It brings with it all, listen brings with it a radical promise and this was the promise. Abraham, if you leave everything and leave the familiar. Then I'm going to make you into a great nation and we know that the Jews and Arabs all come from Abraham. God made him into a great nation, and that was God's promise I'm going to enlarge your position and he says bless you and nothing specific that's referring to giving Abram the desire of his heart when he gave was a personal blessing.

In other words, I'm going to deepen your satisfaction and I'm going to make your name great and there is no other name in all of human history greater than Abrams… Jesus came and said it was. I'm going to increase your reputation entities as I'm you going to be a blessing and not only through his example and all that he started with the nation of Israel, but you think of a 4000 years later were studying Abraham he still a blessing to us the day he received a blessing and he still being a blessing to us. So in other words, I'm going to change her ambition. Abram is to be a blessing and I'm going to bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you, I'm going to give you new identification of God to God was saying I'm going to give you such a close identification with me that the people bless you will consider blessing me and the people who curse you will consider cursing me and got all wrapped up and entwined in Abram's life and that is all peoples on earth are going to be blessed because of your mom to pour out my blessing on your Abraham one day generations from now entire world will see Jesus reflected in your family well. Radical promise. No couple of years ago is a little book, the prayer of Jabez that became very popular.

Millions of people reading it and praying that God would enlarge their territory in our read the book I thought it was terrific off break the prayer. I hope you have but this isn't a promise to enlarge your territory this is a promise to enlarge you to increase the dimension of your life and not like the apostle Paul or Saul in Damascus Road, we had to be sort of turned around. I know none of you, Saul of Tarsus, but it can make a radical difference in your life. Enlarge the dimension of your life and reach you and broaden you and deepen you. It's a radical promise in the bottom-line element of the promise of course is just that God is saying I'm going to give you myself and you going to be blessed and I'm going to bring you into a close personal relationship with me and you going to be a blessing you going to get to know when you're going to make me know you can live up to the full potential that I had in mind for you. When I brought you into existence as the plastic is God himself is a blessing to Abraham in verse 40 laugh and it required effort and energy and planning. When did you decide that you would leave everything behind and leave the familiar leave her and just see the get to know God, something that quickens your heart and you embraced it you said I don't want to be just like everybody else. All the Christians around want God in his fullness. I want to know him.

I want to make him known. I want to receive his blessing. In order to be a blast.

Abraham did and it requires planning doesn't putting 1 foot in front of the other end. Abraham left he left that which was familiar. He left his comfort zone and then he went to Heron and this is readily apparent from chapter 12 to turn back with me to chapter 11 in verse 27 it says this is the account of Tara.

Tara became the father Abram. They Lauren Heron Heron became the father of Lot while his father Tara was still alive. Heron died in Ur of the Chaldeans in the land of his birth. Verse 31 so Tara took his son Abram, his grandson, lots son of Haran his daughter-in-law, Sarah, the wife of his son Abram and together they set out from the Chaldeans to go to Canaan but when I came to Heron Bay. Several of their Antero lived 205 years and he died in Haran.

You get the picture.

God leaned out of heaven Abrams living in our and God's as I want you to leave everything behind.

I want you leave your country and your kindred and your father's house and Abram gets up and he leaves and he takes with him. His father and his brother and his nephew ego and entourage with them.

What gives leave everything. Was it that he shared it with his father and his father said we are not retired from a business on having to do sounds exciting. I think will go with you and his brother said yes and maybe you know we find a business aventurine and I've already finished you close the second will go and what just go with you and not what God said and so Abram left her when he came to Heron that was 600 miles of her, but it was still 200 miles an Canaan E. He Went Half Way. Karen is a place of complement and I think it's wonderful when our families join us in pursuing God bless and be careful that you don't hook your pursuit of God with a family member because when they stop you may stop and this is a personal relationship between you and God.

And yes, we want our husbands to be with us are wives and we want our children to come along right grandchildren are her parents, but bottom-line. This is your magnificent Obsession this is you seeking to know God and embracing Abram had kept his family around them when they stopped he stopped when did you start in your pursuit to know God. A watershed when God came down and you knew is calling your life. Just stop halfway. Are you in some way sitting on the fence you didn't mean to. Maybe meaner he found out you're pregnant B aliens may be a good job opportunity opened up her maybe there was some other distraction you just started out what's and then you stop halfway Abram stop and chapter 12 verse one says the Lord had said to apex in the past in and I don't know if God was reminding Abram of what he had said I don't know if God called Abram twice and so that you need to look for another call.

Did God call you in the past as he called you to follow you as he called you leave everything behind and pursue him as a cauldron some unique form of ministry is something in you started out and you quit halfway one friendliness will be a wake-up call and God. And this is what we call you to know here's a man with this final word thousands of years after Abraham.

Jesus admonished the people crowding around them with words that even now to echo throughout the herons of our lives. Jesus said in Luke 1433. Any of you does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple Jesus made it clear you and I must give up everything, not half of everything if we want to truly know and follow him. Abraham was 75 years old when he finally left Iran and resumed his pursuit of God. You think you're too old and it's just too hard to embrace the God filled life.

Are you even now wishing had been given this challenge. 10 or 20 years ago are you feeling too tired to weak to slow to dull to forgetful the leave everything behind and begin what you think you're too young even now thinking as you listen to me you won't really take it to heart until after you graduate from school, or get settled in a good job or get married and have a family.

Remember God's timing is perfect. He knows what time it is in your life and he's issuing this challenge. Do you right now if you want to truly know him in a vibrant personal relationship then you must leave everything behind the familiar places a fence sitting compromise and your fear of living a life that will be very different from the people around you is that what you're afraid of. Are you afraid of being so different that you draw the stairs of your coworkers that someone will raise an eyebrow. The best way for you and me to overcome her fear of those people. So unlike us who surround us in our everyday lives is to keep our focus on the Lord and cultivate his presence in our lives to embrace the God filled life to make in your magnificent Obsession. You must get to know God as he is in the pages of your Bible read it, study it applied live by its light. Second Corinthians 318 says, and we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory. His likeness as you grow not only in your faith, but in your Christian character.

Others will see Christ in you, God's promise to Abraham was for him to be a channel of God's blessing to the entire world it enlarge the scope of Abraham's life beyond anything he could've thought to ask for what blessings are you missing because you refused to leave the familiar. It's time to leave, emotionally, spiritually, mentally and culturally is time for you to get out of there.

Leave it all behind and embrace the God filled life make. Knowing God, your magnificent Obsession you been listening to living in the light with and Graham wants if you'd like to share today's message go to and Graham wants dartboard where you'll find much to assist you in getting into the word of God and praying and sharing Christ with others join us again here next week for living in the life