Taking the Step of Faith

This podcast is made available by this increasing media thanks to the generosity of our support is your donation today means great podcasts like this remain available to help people look to God daily presentation of the nation today send out all day accepting Christ as your Savior thinks only a single strip for growing in that relationship. Like smoking in fright every day to has a frightful Turning Point. Dr. Jeremiah turns to the Old Testament figure is the very embodiment of faith Abraham to bring fright focus from the logical places is message taking the stupefied and thank you for joining us. I am so excited to have you along for this journey we have begun the new year with a series called the life God blesses that's an interesting story for me because when I came back from cancer years ago in my mail the first day home from the hospital was a book written by Gordon McDonald in the title of that book was the life God blesses and I remember jumping in that book. There was never a more motivated person that I was when I came home because I realized that God was giving me a new opportunity to serve him and I wanted to find out everything you can find out about the life God blesses Gordon was such a blessing to me and so we've taken that title.

Although we don't have the same material and we put it together with messages we believe will help you find the life God blesses today it's taking the step of faith from Genesis chapter 11 and as you heard about it.

The Bible tells us that one of the major principles that were to follow as the children of the heavenly father is that the Jost show live by faith. Most of us understand that were brought into a relationship of Almighty God, through the principle of faith. We know Ephesians 28 which tells us that, for by grace you have been saved through faith that not of ourselves.

It's a gift of God not of works, but what does it really mean to live by faith. When I put my faith in Jesus Christ to forgive my sin and give me eternal life. That's one thing but it's quite something different to walk by faith and how many of you know the Bible tells us that the way we came into a relationship with God is the way were supposed to continue our relationship with God, our relationship with God is based on grace and we live in grace our relationship of Almighty God is based upon faith walk in faith. I don't know about the rest of you but sometimes I look around my brothers and sisters and even at my own life and I wonder how much of our lives are really live by faith. Most of us walk by sight, no way we study all of the statistics and then we make our decisions. And there's nothing wrong with an informed decision, but sometimes we need to get back to the core truth of who we are is God's people.

We need to learn what it means to live by faith and what is faith it's doing what God tells us to do and there is a story in the Old Testament that embraces just about every aspect of faith you can imagine the story of a man by the name of Abraham. Some people tell us that Abraham is the most significant man mentioned in the Bible.

He was the friend of God. What a wonderful title to be given to a person. Abraham was friend of God.

You will find that in Isaiah 41 eight where we are told that Abraham was God's friend in second Chronicles chapter 20 in verse seven where we are told that Abraham was God's friend and in James chapter 223 where it says that he was the friend of God throughout the Bible we are face-to-face with Abraham is mentioned many times in the New Testament you find his name mentioned in the book of Romans is mentioned in the book of acts is mentioned in Galatians. Every time you turn around you meet Abraham and how many of you know that often times in the Old Testament Scriptures, God is referred to as the God of Abraham.

Abraham was truly an amazing man, a man whose life teaches us the lessons of faith now is story begins in the 12th chapter of the book of Genesis. Actually, at the end of the 11th chapter, for all intents and purposes Genesis chapter 12 what is recorded in the Bible about him is very important. The interesting thing when you run into Abraham in the first book of the Bible is that you've already read 11 chapters in the book and in those 11 chapters in the book of Genesis. You have covered all of creation. All of the fall. All of the flood. All of the Tower of Babel and the beginning of sin. Some 2000 years encompassed in 11 chapters, and then it's almost like after those 11 chapters you come to the main thing which is the life and story of Abraham and his descendents. Abraham God is going to teach us the importance of his dealing with one man and through one man dealing with all of the world.

Abraham is going to become our father in many respects. As we learn from the New Testament and in the 12th chapter. As we meet him. As we come to understand something about his life, we discover how important he is to our own personal faith. His name Abram is interesting because the word means exalted father, and as you know, Abraham had no error of his own until he was a very old man later on, God changed his name from Abram to Abraham which means father of a multitude and he still didn't have any children. I often wonder how Abraham dealt with the abuse he must've taken people would ask, what is your name and he would say Abram will tell me about your family what don't really have any. And then one day they came and saw that the name of been changed on his office door from Abram to Abraham.

Now he's the exalted father, but is now the father of a multitude and he still doesn't have any children you have to know this guy live by faith he believed God, according to the record here in the book of Genesis, Abraham lived in a town called and when God appeared to Abraham. For the first time and he began his relationship with God. He was living in this pagan city of the Chaldees from what we can learn and studying the time it was a busy commercial center located in the country of Mesopotamia. It was on the Persian Gulf by the Euphrates River.

Like the rest of the world at the time of Abraham, was a polytheistic city and that means they worshiped many gods. In fact, in the center of the city of there was a temple called as a garrotte and in this, the people worship their chief God, which was a moon dog called Nonna. One writer who is studying the period of time of Abraham says that Abraham's father man by the name of Tara most probably was an idol maker and so Abram grew up in for the 60 years of his life before God touched him in a special way he lived in a polytheistic and idolatrous nation, probably in a family of idolaters and then one day God appeared to him. One day God spoke to him and one day God called him and one day God spoke his name and from that day. Abram was never the same and we read what happened in our Bibles as we notice first of all, the call of faith upon Abraham in chapter 11 of the book of Genesis we read just a little bit of the history.

This is the genealogy verse 27 of Tara. Tara begot Abram Maynor and Aharon Herron begot lot and Herron died before his father Tara in his native land in the Chaldeans and Abraham a name or took wives the name of Abram's wife was Sarai in the name of Mary's life know God, the daughter of Haran and the father of milk on the father of Kiska.

But sir, I was there and she had no child, and Tara took his son Abram exalted father and his grandson Lot the son of Haran and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife and they went out with them from the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan and they came to Herron and dwelt their so the days of Tara were 205 years in Tara Abram's father died in Haran. There's a little commentary about this in the book of Joshua and will get through this introductory stuff and just a moment, but I want you to have the foundation in Joshua 24 one and to then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel for their heads and their judges and their officers and they presented themselves before God.

And Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord God of Israel. Your fathers, including Tara know who is that that's Abram's father, the father of Abraham and the father Maynor dwelt on the other side of the river in all times. No watch this and they served other gods. So Abram came not from what we would call a godly environment. Abram came out of polytheistic idolatrous involvement and in that moment, God reached down and called him and God called him out of that involvement and called them to himself and will see that in the moment.

He called them from idolatry. Most of us today would not consider ourselves to be touched by idolatry or know anything about idolatrous relationships which no idols are not just wood and stone. My friends idols are anything that we place in front of God in our relationship and we can be idolaters in our culture.

Just as well, and I could go through the list of all the things that take the place of God in our lives but you can do that on your own. You know the things you struggle with the things that can get in between you and Almighty God. Those can become idols in your life and in my God needed to separate Abram from his idols in order that he might use him and bring him to a place of usefulness.

But not only needing to be separated from idolatry.

We notice that he also had to be separated from security. Abraham lived in a very secure environment. The fact that it was idolatrous did not touch the security that he knew in Genesis 12 one. We read the Lord said Abraham get out of your country and from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you archaeologists have done work in or of the Chaldees have told us that it was one of the most wealthy cities of its time, but it was like babbling in its time and when Abram lived there.

It was the wealthiest of wealthy cities. Abraham was no doubt from a very wealthy family.

In fact, when he left he brought with him great riches and wealth and in order for God to begin to deal with him. God had to separated not only from the idolatry of his family, but he had to move him away from the place of security that he so strongly was related to so he told him that he wants to leave that place and leave his father and leave his family get out of your country and from your family. He said notice the three things that Abraham had to do. We had to get away from idolatry away from security and away from family. That's what God asked him to do. Now most of us today can't understand how awesome that must've been to Abraham at that time someone has suggested a conversation between Abram and his father that went something like this. This is Abram speaking dad, you're not gonna believe this better sit down and really son what happened.

Are you sure you can handle this. Dad handle what makes some sense on what's on your mind that you know I've been telling you that worshiping God's is a waste of time.

It's about Willets primitive.

Remember that I told you that there just has to be someone someone greater than all the gods that are worshiped in well I know now that there is someone you what I know there is a God greater than the idols and all the gods that we have worshiped. I have seen him and he has talked with me.

I told you to stay out of the wine cellar that I haven't been drinking.

It's true, I've seen him, and I've heard him, you really serious are you you say you've seen and heard him yes that I saw him in a glorious manifestation. I could just make out an outline of his person, but I heard his voice clearly just as clearly as I'm hearing yours right now. What he say son. It may sound strange to you but he told me to pack up and leave to do what to leave her and the holy land and and run Abraham to leave you to dad leave you in my brothers and my cousins and all my relatives son you have been drinking know that it's true and it's real and it was no dream. And I've got to go go where.

Well I'm not really sure to land that is going to show me to a land is going to show you. You mean you didn't tell you where you're going, although no no he didn't tell me were were going so we may not be drunk. What's on your sick did he give you any clues to where in the world he wanted you to go. Roy said it was a land called Canaan somewhere in the West and what's more, God promised that he would make me a great nation, and eventually through me.

All the families of the earth would be blessed and you could just imagine that conversation between Abram and Tara Abrams trying to tell his father is human father. What is heavenly father has told him to do and it doesn't make any sense.

By the way, has God ever told you to do something that make any sense.

Have you ever tried to not talk to people who don't know God and explain to them your walk with God ever tried to help them understand why you do what you do because you're a Christian, they won't comprehend. If you're in a relationship with Almighty God.

That will put you out of a relationship with a lot of people in terms of explanation. The call to Abraham. Now the call of faith was followed in the text of Genesis chapter 12 by a covenant. In fact, the covenant of faith is one of the most famous covenants of all time.

It's called the Abraham a covenant and notice in your Bibles what it says in chapter 12 verses one into get out of your country and from your family and from your father's house to a land I will show you and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him curses you and you knew all the families of the earth will be blessed us with. God told Abram in the Chaldees in his idolatrous family. God said this is what I'm going to do for you. I want you to get out of here and go to Canaan and I'm gonna put my hand of blessing upon you notice he told them four things. I'll show you a land I'll make you a great nation. I will bless you and I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you, and you will be the blessing for all the families of the earth could Abraham possibly have known what God would do. Through him, because he would be obedient that one call could he have known how God would've preserved his seed throughout all of the atrocities that have been perpetrated against the Jewish people from the very beginning of time, so that even today there is a nation called Israel almost every day in the news because of the conflicts that they have around them could possibly have dreamed that because he obeyed God on that particular day, God would do for him what he did and that through his lineage would come, the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. What an incredible moment. I need to add to the story. The reality of it all because last we think Abram was some sort of plaster St. that you could not measure up to I need to tell you that Abraham compromised his faith in him just immediately do everything God told him to do. Sometimes when you hear the story you don't hear this part of it. I want to show this to you in the text. He was a human being and he failed to leave idolatry.

Abram was told to leave and go to Canaan, but when we open our Bibles to the 12th chapter we discover that he's not in Canaan he's in a place called Heron he stopped on the way. He didn't get all the way to the place God called him to. He stopped in another city and guess what Heron was a city of idolatry. Just like the city left he made a few steps and a few starts and he got part of the way. But he stopped in Heron. How many of you have discovered in your life that sometimes it's easy to take the initial step of faith. But after you walk for little Betty gets a little tough and you start reconsidering.

If you're not careful you settle down not too far away from where you were called.

That's what happened. Abram didn't really leave idolatry and remember God had called him not only to leave idolatry, but to leave his family couldn't read in the text that he did leave his family.

In fact, who went with them. His father, who obviously didn't understand what God had told him to do several of you are going I'm going to come in your father's know that you be tempted to do that if your son was going off on what you consider the pipedream you're going to protect them. So don't make any other stupid mistakes.

So the Bible says Tara went with them and he took a lot his brother's son because he had promised his brother before he died that he would take care of this boy.

So he's got lot with in his nephew.

How many of you know this going to be trouble for Raven before the stories over. He didn't leave his family sort of obeyed. He did believe anything take all of his family, but just a few. And he didn't get clear to Canaan. As I mentioned stopped along the way. Fact if you go to acts chapter 7 you will see what happened in the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Heron and said to him, get out of your country and from your relatives and come to land I will show you any came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and he dwelt in Heron that was what God told him to do. And from there when his father was dead, he moved into this land in which you now dwell. You know what Abraham did leave is relative. So God started get his relatives to leave him.

That's pretty scary, and it and it was until his father died that he was ultimately able to get on to the place where God had called him to be an interesting that we always think of Abraham as the great man of faith.

We never hear about this part of his journey friends before were finished with this member to see him, warts and all. Abraham was not a perfect person to talk about that some more in a few moments, let's go on to the compliance of his faith in verses four and five.

These are wonderful words of obedience, for we read Abraham departed, as the Lord had spoken to him why did he leave because God told him so. And Lot went with him, and Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran by the way, do you know how long he stayed in this in between city for 15 years is a long time to not be in the perfect will of God.

But that's where he was and Abram took Sarai his wife about his brother's son, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the people who made acquired in Heron and they departed to go to the land of Canaan and became to the land of Canaan. Finally, 15 years after God spoke to him in the Chaldees, Abraham danced to the place where God called him to me soon arrived to take them so long. But be careful before you say that because if you look back on your life. As I have in mind, there have been times when I have known that God wanted me to do something and I haven't always been quick to. I've always told people that the time between what God chose you to do and when you do it doesn't belong to you, belongs to the enemy because during that time he's trying to talk you out of it and Abraham put himself in jeopardy, but he ultimately got to the place God wanted him to be. Thanks for listening. More information on Dr. Jeremiah's current series life go places.

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