• The first eleven chapters of Genesis covers some 2000 years of history. These next fourteen chapters of Genesis deal with Abraham.
• Terrah, Abrams father went a third of the way to the promise land.
• God placed His call on Abram.
Gen 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
Gen 12:4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,
Gen 12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
• This is one of the most important events in Israel’s history.
• With this call of God on Abram, essentially, the nation of Israel is born.
• God looks on a world of people who had almost all universally surrendered to idol worship.
• Abram listens, and it is no small thing to pack up all your possessions and go somewhere that you were not aware of.
• The Hebrew writer put it like this…
• “Heb 11:8-9 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents…
• As a result, Abram is one of the most described lives in the Old Testament.
• Tonight, as we consider his calling, let’s look at how God orders our steps in obedience.
I. Background is less important that calling.
• What was significant about Abram’s background?
• He was the son of Terrah, a resident of Ur of the Chaldese who moved to Haran.
• That’s it.
• He wasn’t a rising star in the Kingdom of God. He was 75 years old.
• Now, if you’re 75 years old or older, well, even if you are just approaching 75 years, I am not saying that’s old.
• As a matter of fact, 75 years old is looking younger to me every year.
• What I am saying is this, that is not an age you would expect to be called to go to an uncivilized mission field and start a new mission.
• Today, I would doubt many 75 years olds could pass the physical.
• George Burns once said, "Tennis is a game for young people. Until age 25, you can play singles. From there until age 35, you should play doubles. I won't tell you my age, but when I played, there were 28 people on the court -- just on my side of the net.
• Here is a man and wife, past their prime, with no children, and God tells them, “Hey guys, I want to use you to start a new nation.”
• So Abram’s only qualification is this, God called him.
• I don’t know a Christian who doesn’t want to do something to give God great glory.
• Most of us look at our qualifications and think, Oh well, maybe somebody gifted can do it.
• Maybe somebody with the right talents will show up and handle this.
• Listen to me, Abram testifies clearly that the only qualification that matters is to listen to God’s call and say yes.
• Then you get up and go.
II. The destination is not emphasized as much as the next step.
• I probably have too much of an imagination, but here is what I picture.
• Sarai asks Abram, “Where we going?”
• Abram answers, “I don’t know. We are just supposed to go this way.”
• Nephew Lot, who decided to go with them, asks, “Well, if we don’t know where we are going, how will we know when we get there?”
• Abram answers, “I think we will know when we get there.”
• So for the rest of the trip. Lot asks, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”
• See, you have wondered where that came from.
• Maybe it came from Lot asking Abram the whole trip.
• But it shows us an important lesson.
• Where we are going is not more important than to just get going.
• The old Chinese philosophy states, “the journey of 100 miles begins with a single step.”
• Friends of George Burns have always kidded him about his singing. Burns, a master of self-deprecating humor, decided to take advantage of this and insure his voice for a million dollars. He thought it would be a wonderful publicity stunt.
• "I was so excited," said Burns, "I couldn't wait to rush down to the insurance company. I took a cassette and a tape recorder with me so the insurance man could hear my voice. It was one of my best numbers -- a syncopated version of Yankee Doodle Blues with a yodeling finish. The insurance man listened patiently to the whole thing, then he just looked at me and said, 'Mr. Burns, you should have come to us before you had the accident.'"
• Truth is, most journey are not completed, not for the trials along the way, but for the failure to take the first step.
• Gloria Pitzer has written this clever little poem:
• Procrastination is my sin It brings me naught but sorrow.
• I know that I should stop it
• In fact, I will...tomorrow.
• In God’s journey, the most important step is the next step.
• Are you going to make the next step or are you going to wait for some later day?
III. The promise is always bigger than the sacrifice.
• I am sure that Abram had a comfortable life.
• He had family around, was fairly settled, had 75 years to settle into a routine.
• But God said, “I want you to give this up.”
• God put into his promise this, “I will make this well worth your sacrifice.”
• It was no small thing to Abram what God promised him.
• “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
• One of the most important things in that day was posterity, children (many of them), legacy (knowing that you make a difference in your world), and God’s protection.
• All of these were included in this promise of God.
• But to receive these blessings, sacrifice included leaving the comfortable behind.
• Sacrifice includes separation.
1. Separation includes past.
• Some of us are like Abram.
• We need to just be separated from the things in our past that hold us down.
• I think that is partially what Paul was talking about when he said,
• “Forgetting the things which are behind, I press towards the mark of the high calling of God.” Phil. 3:13.
• This is what Abram did. He decided to leave the past of Haran and follow God.
• Is there something in your past you need to leave?
• Leave it today.
2. Separation includes some relationships.
• Some people need a funeral to move on for God.
• That was, actually, what Abram’s situation.
• God did not call him until he had buried his dad, Terrah.
• That didn’t need to be the case, however.
• There are times when you need to let go of a relationship to follow God.
• There may be some people who are hurting your relationship with God.
• You can wait until God tears them from your life, or you can see them as unhealthy and just say “goodbye.”
• Keith Walters felt that his best friend was being a negative influence on him.
• He had felt God had called him to be a minister, but Dag Burrows kept both of them in trouble.
• It was hurting his reputation and influence, and Keith had a difficult telling Dag, “No”.
• Keith kept Dag after church one Sunday night and had that heart to heart talk with Dag.
• He told Dag he wanted to remain best friends, but if Dag could not help him live a Christian life, he would have to pull away from their friendship.
• When Dag begin to see Keith pulling away, he reacted with anger.
• If that is how Keith wants to end our friendship, then no love loss for me!
• Keith finished his senior year and went on to a Christian college.
• He thought often about Dag and prayed for him regularly.
• He often wondered, “Did I do the right thing?
• “Could I changed the dynamics of the friendship and have influenced Dag?
• He often had many doubts about this, but would end up praying about it.
• One evening, he got a phone call. Dag had been in an accident.
• Keith drove all night from the college town to his home town hospital.
• He prayed most of the way, wrestling with guilt about pulling away from his best friend.
• When he got there, he found out he was too late. Dag had died in surgery.
• Keith broke down and started crying, torn by guilt, feeling selfish and confused.
• He wondered if God would ever use him, being that selfish of a person.
• Then Dag’s mother came into the waiting room and embraced Keith.
• Keith was saying, “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
• Ms. Burrows, however, kept saying, “Thank you, Keith, thank you.”
• When Keith finally realized what she was saying, he asked her why she was thanking him.
• “Kevin, Dag was really angry at you when you pulled away from him. It bothered him every day.
• “He ran from it at first, become a worse rascal than he already was.
• “But then he went back to Church when you went to college.
• “Keith, his life completely changed. He gave his life to Jesus.
• “He was looking so forward to you coming home from college so he could share this with you.
• “But he was finally at peace.
• “If you had not pulled away from him, I don’t think he would have ever woke up.
• “Thank you for being faithful and doing the right thing.”
• When you pull away from that friend that is pulling you down, you will be doing the best thing for your Christian walk, and if you commit this person to God, the best thing for them.
• Separation means saying bye to those friends who pull you down.
3. Separation includes pet sins.
• Sacrifice means separation and separation means leaving that pet sin.
• Abram was an idolater when God called him.
• But he left those favorite idols and gods behind.
• What makes a pet sin?
• A pet sin is where we turn for comfort instead of turning to God.
• A pet sin supplies a poor substitute for the satisfaction you are supposed to receive from God.
• That pet sin offers pleasure with the promise of no price, but that pet sin is a liar.
• You always pay for your sins.
• Numbers 32:23 reminds us that our sins always find us out.
• Some people spend their youth planting wild oats and praying the rest of their lives for crop failure.
• Dr. Charles Mercer from Mason, Michigan could attest to this as well. Nearly 4 decades after his wife died, he was arrested, and charged with murder. Investigators in Michigan said they long suspected foul play in the 1968 death of his wife, but at the time it was attributed to Polio. The case was reopened in 1995, and new technology led to his arrest in 2006.
• Let me tell you about God. He doesn’t need clever or innovative forensic techniques.
• Psa 44:20-2 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
