The Call To A Life Of Faith Series

Theme: The Call to a Life of Faith

Text: Gen.11:27-12:3

B. This morning we are going to begin a new sermon series, and it’s from the book of Genesis. We will study the life of Abraham and his journey of faith. He is called the Father of Faith, and the Patriarch of Faith of both Jews and the Christians. I believe his life will teach us many things about walking or living with God by faith. He is also called the “Friend of God,” a title that implies intimate relationship. It is my prayer that as we study his life we too would come to live a life of faith and have a closer walk with God.

Please open your Bible to Genesis 11: 27-12: 3. In this passage we will find the call of God to Abraham to a Life of Faith. But actually this is the goal of God for all His children. He is calling everyone of us, as He called Abram, to live a life of faith in Him. This has three major divisions of Abram’s life as he received the call of God to live in faith.

I. THE WRETCHED YEARS (11: 27-30).

1. Abram’s past was one of obscurity and misery. Before God put His spotlight on Abram, he was a mere nobody. He was just another nameless face in the crowd of humanity.

2. He came from Ur of the Chaldees, the very center for sun and moon worship of his time. While the place may have been prosperous, it was known of its perversion. The people there were involved in some of the most miserable forms of idolatry known to mankind. This is the spiritual condition of the place where Abram lived. And most likely, this man was one of these idolaters. Therefore, there was a time that Abraham’s life was one of spiritual misery –a time of darkness, death, and despair.

3. But out of this condition that God came and called Abram to live his life in faith. God came to bring him out of his spiritual wretchedness.

4. We are no different with Abraham. We were once in the darkness of sin. But God came to bring us out from sin. Now our heart rejoices to know that God can reach into the blackest heart and turn on the light of His glory and presence. Our lives are living examples of the power of His grace. He took our life that was so insignificant, so barren and hopeless and turned it into one of the greatest examples of the power of faith and grace!

5. The whole point here is: No one is beyond the touch of God! Even Abraham who was once a pagan. Regardless where we came from, or of what burdens we’re carrying now, God is able to come where we are and change us for His glory! He can make us into something that manifests His glory and power.

II. THE WASTED YEARS (11: 31-12: 1).

1. Now the next thing that we can see in the story is when the whole family of Abram went out from Ur and set out for Canaan. This action was Abram’s response to the call of God to depart everything that shaped his paganistic life –his country, his religion, and his relatives.

Though we are not told here how the call of God came to him, but we are told that God spoke to him out of his darkness and brought him into the light to follow a new path of life.

The call of Abraham would raise some questions, which even the Bible is silent why. One example is: Why did God pick this one man, out of all the men of the earth? We can’t answer that. Why does God call me and not my brothers? Why did He call you and not your neighbor? With wonder we sing the song, “Why have you chosen me out of millions your child could be?” We don’t really know the answer. The answer to this question lies within the cloud of God’s sovereignty. But all we can do having been called by God is to rejoice in the fact that we are saved and secure in the blood of the Lamb of God. I praise God for the day He turned the light for my life. I praise God for the day He called me to salvation and liberty.

2. But the nature of Abram’s call was for him to leave, to depart. Yet when he left Ur, he brought with him his father and some relatives. It seems that he compromised by not separating from his family as he has been ordered. He failed to fully submit to the call of God.

Not that he would sever his ties with his relatives, but the purpose of God was that Abraham would be free from any paganistic influence. There is no indication that his relatives put their trust in the Lord as Abraham did. God wanted Abraham to put away anything that would block him from doing the will of God.