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Genesis – people relating to God – part 4
Answering God’s call
Genesis 12:1-4
For a short time in my life, I felt the need to try and make my living as a day working cowboy.
This was a short period in my life because I quickly realized that my wife and kids expected to eat everyday and not being good with money, we needed the security of a regular paycheck.
I enjoyed the work
Hiring out to help pen or work a bunch of cows
Hiring out to catch a cow or bull
Hiring out to help plant winter pasture
Hiring out to do whatever a ranch might need
It was a good life- someplace different all the time
Meeting new people
Seeing new places
Almost every single day of work that I got came from a phone call
Now young people in the room
That was long before cell phones
We actually had phone in our houses that connected to the wall with a cord
And you had to hang around the house ,near the phone if you wanted to get a call
So
Every morning – unless I had made a deal already to work again
I waited for a phone call
Waiting for a call
A very important trait for a day worker to have was to answer when someone called
You could be a top hand
Gifted with a horse
A cow whisperer
Build a fence that was so tight a straight that you could play a tune on it
But
If your perspective employer
Could not get a hold of you
And
Often times they would only try once
So
If you did not answer their call
They would find someone else
And you would miss the work for that day
And as a result you might miss many days of work in the future
Today as we continue our series in Genesis
We are going to look at a man who answered Gods call
Just a quick reminder
This study is called people relating to God
We are going very quickly through the book of Genesis
But we are specifically looking at the key people in this great book
And
How they related to God
We began with Adam and Eve
We looked at their choices and the consequences of the choices
The next week we looked at Their Sons
Cain and Able – then Seth
The decisions that Cain made and the separation from God that resulted from his disobedience
Next we looked at the one righteous man left on earth after many years of corruption by evil
Noah
And we learned about his desire to please God and also took a hard look at the lives of the others
The ones that did not get on the boat
The ones with mud in their ears
Today we jump ahead the end of Genesis Chapter 11
The world has once again started down the slippery slope of disobedience
God hit reset with Noah
But we know
Because we are as they are were knot heads
That evil has corrupted the world once again
So today we meet a man named Abram
We will soon come to know him as Abraham
Most Christians
Actually most people recognize him as the father of our faith
He was a righteous man
Considered by most to be a great man
But
He was a human like each of us as well
Not perfect as we will see
By any means
But he answered when God called
Let’s read about his first call in Genesis 12:1
“The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.”
Abram was living in Haran with his family
They had a ranch there
They were successful
His family was there
We can assume he was happy
Content
But we also know by what we see later that he knew something was missing in his life
So
When God called
Abram answered
God made him some great promises in the next few verses and we will study about them in a bit
But for now it is important to look at how Abram responded to the call
How he related to God
Verse 4
4 So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed”
Abram was content
He was happy
He was successful
He was surrounded by his family
He knew what he would do tomorrow
If he was like most us--- he had made some long term plans
Maybe he planned to fence the lower pasture
Build a new barn
A new set of pens
A bigger house
But God called
God called and said
Go
Go
Go to a place I will show you
Man that is tough
God did not tell him where he was going
He did not tell him why he was going
He did not even tell him what he would do when he got there
God simply called
And
Told him to go
And
Abram went
He answered the call
The first call
Then God called on Abram more
Just like my day working story
When we answer the first call
We do what is asked of us
We receive more calls
God called
Abram went
And God made him promises
Let’s go back to verses 2-3 to see those promises
2 I will make you into a great nation.
I will bless you and make you famous( the NIV says make your name great), and you will be a blessing to others.
3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.
All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
God made some great promises to Abram
And in doing so
The last promise he makes directly affects us
Look again at the last one
“All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
Other versions say
All the people will be blessed through you
This promise
Is an early hint of Jesus Christ
Our redeemer
Son of God though the line of Abraham
It is a early hint of the promise of salvation though the family of Abram
Though the line of David
Right here we see God’s plan for his people
I told you that Abram answered the call
I told you that he answered the first call
And God promised blessings
Then God called again
We see in the rest of the story of Abram
In Genesis chapters 12-25
We covered Abraham and his life in more depth this morning in our bible study
Once again—if you want to know more
Dig deeper
Get a deeper and better understanding of this lesson
Pray about joining us at 9 on Sunday’s
We see though our studies
That he was not always perfect
That he often made mistakes
He lied about His wife being his sister not once but twice
He often doubted
He questioned God
Tried to do things his own way---- Took matters into his own hands
Trying to get a son through Hagar, Sarah’s servant
Abraham often had trouble waiting on God
But what we see a pattern of faithfulness
We see that even though he had trouble with patience
He waited
Even though he had trouble with doubt
He believed
What we see is a pattern of obedience
That will send us in the right direction if we imitate him
And follow his lead
In our further studies
We see Abrams name changed to Abraham
We see God pour out his blessing and fulfill his promises
Let’s look just for a moment again at the blessing that God promised
Genesis 12:2-3
2 I will make you into a great nation.
I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.
3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.
All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
The first promise
I will make you into a great nation
In this promise God shifted his focus on all of mankind to one people
One nation
The Israelites- Jews- Hebrews- God’s chosen people
When God called Abram
He did more than make a promise to him
He made a covenant with him
God told him he would be the founder or the father of a great nation
And that that nation would be a blessing to the whole world
And that ultimately every person in the entire world would have the chance to receive the blessings of God
Though Jesus
Let’s go back to the call
God called Abram
Abram obeyed
So God called again
What did God call him to do?
What does he call us to do?
First
God called Abram to move
Step out
Get up
Get started
In our own lives this would be a call to salvation
To step out in faith and accept Jesus
God called Abram to trust
Trust me Abraham
I will do what I have said
Just trust
He calls us to trust as well
God has promised us a hope and a future
He has promised us a new life if we simply trust
God Called Abram to obedience
God said Go
Abram went
God said trust me
Abram trusted
That is called obedience
Doing God’s will
Even when we don’t understand
Even when we don’t understand
Or even when we don’t know where we are going
He calls us to obedience as well
God called Abram to submission
Yes Lord
Whatever you want Lord
Your will be done
To service
Abrams faith
Changed the world
So can yours
Though your acts of service
He called Abram to sacrifice
God promised him a son
Then he asked him to give up the son he had waited so long for
Abraham answered the call
And God blessed him for his obedience
And sent a sheep
To take the place of Isaac
He calls us to obedience also
And
He sent a lamb for us
Hid own Son
Jesus Christ
The spotless lamb
Who took our place
Took our sins
He called Abraham To worship
Over and over again we see
Him praise God
Build an altar to God
Thank God
And glorify God
You see
First Abram had to answer Gods call to get moving
And then we see more calls
More blessings
More calls
More blessing
Abraham was a great man of faith
But
Abraham was still just a man
A man with problems
A man with doubts
A man with ideas and thoughts of his own
He was a man who made bad choices
Wrong decisions
But a man who God used in a mighty way
An ordinary guy
Who answered the call and was transformed into an extraordinary guy through obedience
There is so much more we could discuss about Abraham
I could preach about him
His life
His mistakes
I could preach about his son Isaac
The promises
For weeks- months or even years
But
Today we are concentrating on People relating to God
So we have focused on Abrahams call and our call
What is God calling you to do?
Is he calling you to make the first move?
To step out
To accept his free gift of salvation
This is God’s first call
He will not stop calling
But he will not call you into something else until you
Accept the first call to salvation
If you have answered the first call
Is he calling you to trust him?
Completely
100%
Let him take the reins of your life
Is he calling you to say?
I’m all in God
Maybe he is calling you to your first step of obedience in baptism
Is He
Calling you to show the world that you have a new name and a new life
That you have been changed by the power of the blood
Transformed by the life changing blood
Moved from unforgiven to forgiven
And to make that public?
Maybe he calling you to make a life change
Calling you out of an addiction
Out of an unrighteous or immoral relationship
Into freedom from sin
Is he calling you to come clean with him and with yourself?
To stop justifying bad behavior
Stop justifying sin
And surrender
Maybe he is calling you to service
Calling you to begin fulfilling his great commission
Going out
And telling people about him
Starting small with just your friends and family
And then building confidence and expanding your influence
Maybe to service in the church
Maybe he is calling you into some type of ministry
Maybe he is calling for you to offer up your Isaac
Turn lose of whatever you have placed of higher value in your life than God
It could be money
Stuff
Relationships
Attitudes
Thoughts or beliefs
Are you willing to give God Everything?
To trust him with everything in your life
I mean truly willing
To Go
Where ever he leads
Abram
Abraham
Was just a man
Just a human like each of us
But
He
Through faith
Allowed God to do great things
In and through him
So can you
Let me read Romans 5:1-11 for you as I close
Paul writes
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace[a] with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Close from the heart
Pray
