Taking the Step of Faith

This podcast is made available by this increasing media as to the generosity of our support is your donation today means great podcast ideas remain available to help people look to God daily presentation at our nation today send out all day like in a Briggs the ability to wonder if you done the one thing you are in good company. Abraham this I'm concerned that I am Turning Point of the Jeremiah shares how it's often in those moments of the sick and dizzy.

God comes alongside reassurance and encouragement to introduce the conclusion of his message taking us to fight his will thank you for joining us today. Our boys love the study of Abraham. Obviously he's one of the most important Old Testament characters is the father of the Jewish nation.

Our Jewish friends revere him.

He is a great example of a man who is like us. He wasn't perfect, as you know, he made some serious errors in his walk, but he was a man of faith and of the Bible tells us that when God told him to go out without telling him what he was going that he went. I love the way Hebrews speaks of Abraham were to talk about him some more from the 11th chapter of Genesis, and if you have your Bible, you may want to turn to that portion of God's word. As we study it, you'll find the truth to be a pretty encouraging. Now let's get back to our discussion of the man Abraham taking the step of faith. How many of you have discovered in your life that sometimes it's easy to take the initial step of faith walk for little Betty gets a little tough to start reconsidering. If you're not careful you settle down not too far away from where you were called. That's what happened. April he didn't really leave idolatry and remember God had called him not only to leave idolatry, but to leave his family 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 father's know that you'd be tempted to do that if your son was going off on what you consider the pipedream going to protect them.

So don't make any other stupid mistakes. So the Bible says Tara and he took 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 his nephew, and you know this is 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 get Claire 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 Haran 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 Haran 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 is pretty scary and it wasn't 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 will 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 that 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 Simon all the possessions that they had gathered, and the people who made acquired in Haran, 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 and of the Chaldees, Abraham danced to the place where God called him to be and there are two aspects of faith are reflected. First of all there is. God's statement of faith Abraham go and then there is Abraham's response to faith and Abraham went out. What is faith. Faith is primarily obedience to what God has said God is not ask you to put your trust in some warm and fuzzy feeling about God. God is ask you to put your trust in the revelation that he's already given you and the revelation that he will give you in the future from his holy Word. And when you obey, you exercise your faith. What does it mean to walk by faith. It means to walk in obedience to Almighty God.

No matter what anybody else says that person who knows God, and is walking by faith says I have higher orders and they walk by faith and do what God tells them to do and when they walk by faith and not by sight. They begin to stand out from among the rest. What God wants from you what he wants from me as he wants us to walk by faith to be a 20 tells us in his word and Abraham went out according to Hebrews chapter 11, not knowing where he was going and by faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country by faith because God told him so.

Abraham did it, and then his faith was confirmed and if you read in your Bibles again in the seventh verse that when Abraham got to Canaan were God and told him he wanted him to go but the Lord appeared to Abram and said to you and your descendents I will give this land and there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him the confirmation of Abram's faith was twofold. First of all, Almighty God confirmed Abraham that what he had told him to do was the right thing. Remember now to get this picture Abraham had been called in the Chaldees 15 years earlier in a long period of time when Abraham had wavered in his faith in Haran had gone on and finally Abraham gets to Canaan and when he finally gets to the place, God sent him. God once again speaks to him and says to him, Abram can earn the right place your obedient you're do a lot of asking to do and he affirmed him and can earn them in his faith. How many of you know that when we take steps of faith that are sometimes out on the edge. God is so good to come along somewhere in the process and confirm that in our hearts so that were not wondering how we done the right thing so often, God has done in my life when I've taken a step of faith or of let a congregation in steps of faith and we got out on the edge sometimes of wonder have we overstepped the boundaries and God will come along and permit what we have done, but not only did God confirm his faith in Abraham. Abraham confirm his faith in God. Notice what the Scripture says he built an altar unto the Lord God.

In verses seven and eight of the book of Genesis chapter 12 we find Abraham building to altars to altars.

Someone has said that for Abraham the symbol of his life was a tent but the secret of his life was an altar. I remember when I first started reading the life of Abram and I challenge you to do this reading through the 12 chapters that record his story here in the book of Genesis. Every time I found an altar mentioned in the text. I drew a little altar out in the margin of my Bible and I noticed that some of this every time you turn around Abram's worshiping God whenever aprons and fellowship with God. He's always worshiping God. When Abram's in the land of Canaan. He worships God when he gets out of Canaan goes down to Egypt and other places where God had not told him to go find him building altar down there that would be a mockery. Almighty God, but when he's walking in faith. He's walking in fellowship, you know that's a wonderful principle when you walk in faith you walk in fellowship and part of your fellowship is worshiping Almighty God, you know that when God is told you to do something and you do it there's this wonderful communication that goes on between you, but when God tells you to do something and you waiver or you don't do it.

It's almost like the ceiling is. This hides your prayers go.

Sometimes you may feel just so foolish.

Pray because you know down deep in your heart how can I pray because the Bible says if I regard iniquity in my heart. The Lord will not hear me. So Abraham is now and Canaan's taken a little while to get there but he's taken the step of faith in God is going on in the step of faith and organist see the step of faith taken to some very interesting places. Walking with God is an adventure when you walk by faith, it will be something you can predict every day. It would be an exciting journey I've written down some lessons that I want to leave with you about a perhaps these are the most important applications to our own lives. Hopefully, you write them down and meditate upon them in your own heart. First thing I wrote down was that faltering faith is not always failing. Isn't it a good thing friends that when we falter in our obedience to God.

We don't get all the way where God doesn't just give up on us know what God said. When Abram got Karen and he didn't go all the way to Canaan. God could just sit Abraham that's it. I told you to go to Canaan. I am finished with you but you don't. I discovered when God tells you to do something he will either let you do it voluntarily or he will get you to the place he wants you to be in his own way and work extra hard on Abram.

He had to take his father out he had to show them the misery of being disobedient, but Abram finally got to Canaan was that Sadie was friends if God tells us the sum let's just do it and let's not make him work so hard and let's not go for the misery ourselves. A man and the encouraging thing to me is that faltering faith is not failing. How many of you started out to do something God told you to do and you kind of lost your way, you faltered a little bit. I'm so glad that God is willing to hang in there with us and stay with us and get us where we need to go even if it takes 15 years. The second principle I written down in my journal is that faith is not about perfection.

Faith is about direction is not a good thought, isn't it important to us to understand what I'm going to take my step of faith and from now on I was going to be perfect. We set that standard up with people like Abram and other folks and before we know what the standards up here and we discover we can't meet that standard and were falling on her face, and were so defeated and discouraged when Abram said yes to God in the Chaldees, he took a step toward God.

He started out and he got to Haran any started a whole new direction for his life away from polytheism away from idolatry away from materialism. He started in a new direction, but friends he didn't get to perfection at the beginning that he when writer said it's like this with many a stumble in many of fall with moments of triumph and moments of defeat with mountaintop experiences in dark times in the Valley stops and starts one moment filled with confidence. In the next covered with confusion, but Abraham set out in a new direction no longer by sight. Now living by faith. That pretty much describes our lives doesn't been on the mountaintop. The next thing you know, how did I get from there down here ever find yourself in introspection before God, saying, Lord God, you've done so much for me. How can I be so sorry.

How can I be so sorry. My response to you want to been there. Faith is not about action. Faith is about direction and when God speaks to you and he calls you out of your life wherever it might be in some of you today listening to me living a life that's not honoring to God. God wants you to step out of that by faith.

He's not going to make you automatically perfect the next day he's going to start you in a new direction and a journey toward God and away from sin, but you won't get there in a day and you probably will get there in 15 years will be living every day of your life growing more and more like Christ.

And then I wrote down this disobeyed instructions delay additional instructions. This is very important principle. Abraham goes to Haran not obedient completely to the Lord, and he stays there for 15 years and there is no record of God speaking to him during that whole period of time, and I wonder sometimes why did God tell them what to do. Will got it already told him what the building wasn't doing it. Some of you say why doesn't God tell me what to do. Let me ask you a question are you doing what God's told you to do already. If you're waiting for further instructions. The Bible says not going to get more light to. We walk in the light, we already have an interesting thing about Abram is that God did not appear to him again until he was obedient and went to Canaan, then God came down.

It appeared to them and they had this intimate conversation. So just mark it down in your notebook about faith that when you delay your obedience also delay further instruction so you don't know what to do God's ago to tell you what to do. A week from now if you're going to do what he told you to do today.

Amen.

Some of you are stalling your faith walk looking around for a while, but it displays all this time why my stoma. Maybe it's because God's told you to do something and you are going to do it and until you do what God's told you to do. He's not going to tell you anything more than number four the power of our faith is found in the patient's of our faith. That's one of the things you learn from Abram's long periods of time go by and you think how does man stand this and I watched this all of these things, God promised him and be his was going to have a scene he was going to have a son remembered he was going to be a great nation. Abraham was 75 when he (to go to Canaan and it wasn't for another 25 years that he got the promise of Isaac. Abram is almost 100. He was in an octogenarian and going beyond the stage of being able to birth a son with his wife and God promised this to him way back in the Chaldees when he was 6015 years and Aaron and then another 25 years and finally God fulfilled his promise. You say, well, why does God make us wait, why doesn't God fulfill his promises to us now because the power of our faith is the patience of our faith. What does the Scripture say about faith. Faith is the evidence of things that we don't see if Abraham got all his promises immediately.

Would he be walking by faith, no, maybe walking by sight, he would have everything God told him to do. God wants to do some great things for you and they haven't happened yet. So you're walking by faith right now waiting on the promises, you know that some of the things that God's promise to you and to your family may not be fulfilled in your lifetime.

Some of you are praying for children who aren't saving walking by faith every day. You know what God may not let you see their salvation while you're alive on this earth may save them after you're gone. The power of our faith is the patience of it. True faith always involves waiting how hard it must've been for Abram to look around and Canaan after he got there and realized this was the land God promised him he had no see. Even though God had promised one to me had no permanent house to live in. He was still living in tents.

Although God promised them one.

He could not possess the land because the Canaanites were in the land. It wasn't until Joshua that the land was occupied by God's people. He didn't see great blessings that we see he could not have seen down the road and have known that out of his lineage from his children's children's children's children would come the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who would be the Savior of the whole world didn't get to see that he died. Not having seen the promises, but he lived by faith because God had spoken and he saw enough of the promises fulfilled to believe it. God would ultimately fulfilled all payment so juvenile walk by faith. I want to try something, you better learn how to wait to see him walking by faith. He's going to give me a husband. Well, you might you might do it if that's what you believe and forth. That's what he's if you spoken a word to you through Scripture. You might get married in wheelchairs. I don't know what is time schedule is, but I know that the power of faith is the patient's of faith waiting on Almighty God.

Melanie give me the last thought were finished, while the billing of our faith takes a lifetime. The birth of our faith takes just a moment you say will and I am the faith. I don't have you been born in the faith. Interesting thing is that while the whole deal with. Abraham took all these years and he was 60 when God called him and we see the rest of his life all the way up to the birth of Isaac, and beyond the beginning of his faith was a moment of time when God said to Abraham go out the Chaldees and the Bible says and Abram went out the day he took the first step. His faith was born. And that's the way it works for all of us.

So you say will I like to be a mature Christian you can be a mature Christian.

Go take the first step you gotta say Almighty God. I believe your word about my sin and your word about salvation and your word about forgiveness and I believe what you said in the Bible that if I put my trust in you will be my Savior and what you do when you hear that if you're going to be a child of faith. You gotta take the first step you gotta say okay God. I believe that I'll take step number one and was I going to lead you, it's going to lead you on a journey more adventuresome than you ever dreamed through many ups and downs and experiences were God is going to be faithful to you but where does it start listen to me.

The building of your faith takes a lifetime, but the birth of your faith is just a moment when you say yes to God, and you can say pastor Jeremiah. I have had the birth of my faith was just a moment of time in a service someplace when you said yes to God. When the preacher preached boldly the salvation message and you came forward when, as we hear so often in the baptism service. Your parents prayed with you in that moment, you were born into the faith. Now you're going to just build your faith over the whole length of your life but you see, sometimes people think that you grow in the faith.

I was in amused by this, I asked people are you a Christian, while always been a Christian world.

When did you become a Christian were there never was a time when I was not a Christian.

My parents were Christians and my parents than their parents before them are Christians.

I've always been a Christian. So when were you born. I've always been born will you mean you've always been born while my parents before me were born in my grandparents were born and everybody that I know of, and my hope family so I've always been born making sense does it just as you have a moment in time when you came out of your mother's womb, and that was your birth moment, so there is a time when you were born into the family of God by faith in Jesus Christ is just a moment in time when in your heart you say yes God I will receive Jesus Christ as my Savior. It's my impression that all of us are in one of the three places were Abraham was either in wall of the polytheism was going on in the idolatry living in idolatry and sent ourselves or maybe we've taken a partial step of obedience and we walked to Heron, but we haven't gone all the way up in some of you already and Canaan. You trusted the Lord your walking with him you're trusting him in your walking life of faith. If you have never been born into God's family. If you've never taken that step of faith. I want you to take that step today. It will be the beginning of a lifetime.

Walking with God, which you can walk with God. You take the first step that Almighty God is made it so simple. He simply said that if will pray to him and ask him to forgive our sin he will come into our lives and give us forgiveness and we can be his child forever. Thank you for listing today and thank you for joining us in our journey of faith during these early broadcasts in 2021 were studying a series called the life God blesses will see you tomorrow message today originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr. David Jeremiah, the senior pastor would you like to tell us have tending toward ministers to you. Please write to us Turning Point PO Box 3838, San Diego, CA 92163 or visit our website at Jeremiah.oral/lighting real copy of Jack country, with God's blessings just for you is 100 inspirational leavings and reflections is yours for a gift of any amount you can also download the free Turning Point mobile app for your smart device for searching your capsule for the keywords tending toward ministers instant access to programs and results visit David Jeremiah.oral/radio with the unvarying conflict is tomorrow. As we continue the series the life God blessed here on tending point. Jeremiah, thanks for taking time to listen to and from these increased in all