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PORTRAITS OF FAITH: ABRAHAM
HOW TO HAVE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
November 26, 2006 Jay Robison HEBREWS 11:8-10, 13, 16
This Thursday Thanksgiving is A Celebration of Pilgrims . .
At Harvest in 1621 over 100 people gathered to thank God
Pilgrim Edward Winslow described it this way
Our harvest gotten in, our governor sent 4 men hunting so that after a special manner we might gather & rejoice in the fruit
of our labors. Great Indian King Massasoit with 90 men killed
5 deer and celebrated with us for three days.
By the goodness of God we are far from want.
Pilgrim =A PERSON JOURNEYING TOWARD A FUTURE LIFE
Journey undertaken w\an end in view, a purpose, not just a tourist.
We have been considering portraits of faith
Last week, Enoch who walked with God
Before that Abel reminder to give our best to God
Today from Hebrews 11 Abraham who was a pilgrim
With similar qualities to pilgrims who came here 300 + yrs ago
Journeying toward a future, living for tomorrow
Tomorrow is filled with promise and potential
Chance to better ourselves, brims with opportunity
Tomorrow also filled with mystery and pitfalls
We want to know the future only if good but
Maybe things will not work out as we wish tomorrow
Certainly the same hope and anxiety lived in our
Faith portrait today Abraham Let’s look at his experiences
So that we might gain a model of how to live life
1. What GOT INTO ABRAHAM
Abraham went out from his own surroundings
To a country he never had seen or knew anything about
He followed an inner calling to tomorrow
Believing things for which he had no proof,
Listen to Vs 8NLT It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God
called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give
him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going
Abraham was moved by a call to the “land of promise”
He left his homeland and family never to return home
Imagine Abraham and God talking. “Abraham, this is God.”
I want you to leave everything and go to the land I will show you.”
“Where’s that?” “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.” “It’s 1500 miles from here in a place called Canaan.”
“Never heard of it.” “I know, and guess what else?” “What?” “
I’m going to make you the father of a great nation.”
“That’s impossible. I don’t have any children Sarah & I in AARP.” “Don’t worry.” “What do you mean, don’t worry?” “Just trust me.” “Let me see if I’ve got it straight. You want me to leave everything,
travel across the desert to someplace I’ve never heard of, & become the father of a great nation.” “Right.” “Is this some kind of joke?” “No.” “What am I supposed to tell my wife?” “That’s your problem.”
Abraham was called out on the limb and then to jump off it
We can make ourselves comfortable by world’s standards
Or we can listen to an inward voice calling us to Move Out
God always sees ALL OUR POTENTIAL
Few of us live up to our potential, think we do
May even feel that we cannot do any more
I am asking are you being in touch with God’s inner call
on your life, following as God leads us God has a call for all of us
Society is full of people who have lost all strength and hope
Have never moved to focus on one thing energized by that
Faith for Abraham was not a static settled issue
He was willing to boldly go where no one had ever gone before
This was a few millennia before Star Trek
He had to go on his own vision not with large contingent
Tribe did not move with him only immediate family
There was risk involved in living life of faith
If faith is so great why do so few people live it out?
Most people would rather do anything than take a risk.
Taking risks, means being vulnerable. And that may affect our
finances, our friends, our future, our feelings, our occupation,
where we live, and a host of other considerations.
Human tendency is to want to be safe and secure, to hedge our bets,
to insure ourselves against loss. Basically, we fail at faith because
we fear to risk.” [Charles Swindoll. A Study of Hebrews 10-12.]
But faith w\out risk is not faith God called Abraham from comfort
2. What DID ABRAHAM GO THROUGH?
Since Abraham faithful to God everything should be smooth sailing
Right, after all if we are faithful doesn’t God owe us
Abraham and company traveled from Ur of Chaldees West
Through the desert to the promised land
By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents Vs 9a NIV
When Abraham arrived in promised land Canaanites already there
They were not looking for house guests, did not want to give up land
Any more than you would or I would
Abraham Nomad had his flocks & possessions but also in many ways
Start all over in promised land but still looking toward tomorrow
He certainly hadn’t bettered himself $$ by following God
He lived as a stranger in a foreign country,
New culture and customs, had to be lonely
There are always CHALLENGES, & OBSTACLES w\our DREAMS
Bruce Barton, Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by
those who dared believe that something inside them
was superior to circumstance.
Great men and women are such because they overcome adversity
They choose to look beyond adversity toward tomorrow
God’s dreams for us always include challenges and obstacles
Will we be willing to work through those in faith
Remember When all you have is God, God is enough
Takes great patience to go on in the midst of trial
Abraham’s patience was maintained by the promise of God
And a voice within him that called him to live for tomorrow
3. What HAPPENED AS A RESULT OF ABRAHAM’S FAITH
What came of all Abraham’s traveling
What were the results, if we to follow in faith
What can we expect looking at Abraham’s life
Reality is that Abraham’s call from God not a sure thing
Describing Abraham and other portraits of faith
Vs 13 NIV All these people were still living by faith when they died.
They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and
welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were
aliens and strangers on earth
From Abraham’s faithfulness came a family
From that family came tribes, From those tribes came prophets,
And from those prophets one day came a savior
Following in faith always LEAVES A BLESSING FOR THE
FUTURE
We benefit from Abraham’s faithfulness
He never realized all of what came of his following
Just as you will not see all the blessings and neither will I
If you are faithful in giving to TBC lives touched you never see
Baptisms happen here long after you are gone
In your family if you pray and serve God a heritage of faith
Your kids and grandkids will see, God honors that
The greatest roads in life are those we cannot see the end of at first
God is still trying to reach in to each one of us
We may have to go it alone, we will encounter obstacles
Others may think we are crazy for following God
God calls us to be builders in the kingdom
Traveling to places we do not know
Listen to Vs 16 NLT summary of faithful
But they were looking forward to a better home in heaven.
That’s why God wasn’t ashamed for them to call him their God.
He even built a city for them.
St Teresa “All the way to heaven is heaven For J said I am the way.”
Christian life starts not only in word but also in deed as we sense
The impulse of God experience walk w\God & reach the goal
Are you living today in faith for tomorrow?
Ellis Island, NYk. One of biggest immigration centers in U.S.
processed 1000s of immigrants a day.
All of these immigrants left their homelands w\whatever difficulties
to come to “the land of promise.” Believed they could make themselves a new & better life here.
At time, a trip to America was over a month by boat.
Ellis Island had dormitory rooms where people could stay while
being processed. Not much to look at from 21st century standpoint,
to 19th century immigrants aft months on a boat looked promising Maybe it was grandest room they had ever seen. Imagine one person
so overwhelmed w\greatness of room decides to stay here forever. When they try to finish processing him, he stalls it.
Hangs up pictures above bunk. Unpacks all clothes moves right in. You would want to just grab this guy tell him how foolish he’s being.
Would want to explain to him this is nothing compared to what America has to offer him. Want to tell him he’s wasting new freedom by imprisoning himself in these sub par conditions.
We’re pilgrims passing through this life on the way to next.
Not that this life has no significance at all for us, it’s this life that
Determines where we will spend next. However, we not true citizens of this world. Do not really belong to this world. Like Abraham, moving to God’s land of promise.
PORTRAITS OF FAITH: ABRAHAM
HOW TO HAVE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
November 26, 2006 Jay Robison HEBREWS 11:8-10, 13, 16
A Celebration of Pilgrims . .
Pilgrim =
1. What
It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going Vs 8 NLT
God always sees
If faith is so great why do so few people live it out?
2. What
By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents
Vs 9a NIV
There are always with our
When all you have is God, God is enough
3. What
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth Vs 13 NIV
Following in faith always
The greatest roads in life are those we cannot see the end of at first
But they were looking forward to a better home in heaven. That’s why God wasn’t ashamed for them to call him their God. He even built a city for them. Vs 16 NLT
Are you living today in faith for tomorrow?
