The Life Of Abraham Pt 1

NEW BEGINNINGS

FROM ABRAM TO ABRAHAM

Pastor Chuck La Porte 01-02-2008

(Abraham came from the family of Shem (son of Noah) Genesis 11)

God was willing and able to change the identity of a man by the name of Abram to Abraham a name of promise = “the father of many”

God did so because Abram was willing to allow God to change him. Are you willing today to allow God to change you?

Genesis 17:1-14 Read

Lessons From The Life Of Abraham: we will look at a point in time prior to chapter 17… and going into chapter 18 = but the first thing we need to see about the willingness of Abram to be obedient to God is that Abram would…

1. Look Toward The HORIZON Genesis 12:1-8

the eyes of God searched to and fro the earth, to find a man whose faith would respond to heaven’s call, he found Abraham… he was instructed to leave his home and everything he knew as familiar. To go to a land that God would later put his name upon, he needed a man of faith to fulfill this purpose.

The condition of God’s blessing rested upon Abrams departure from the familiar, so that by faith he would obtain the riches of the unknown…

He had no map of the promised land, no travel brochures and no guide other than God Himself. (all he had was the raising of the son on each new day)

In order to embrace the promise (father of many) he had to release everything that he trusted in and trust God for his next camp, meal and next breath.

Success in the Promised Land depended on Abraham looking toward the horizon of the next day…

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land… he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:8-10

He was asked to leave that tangible security of this earth to embrace the city whose architect and builder was God. Are you willing to leave the comforts of the life you know and step into the calling of God that is unknown?

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what lies ahead, I press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3:13-14

Paul understood this Biblical principle of forgetting what is behind and pressing forward to the horizon. Christians today must, by faith, walk away from the false security of our UNGODLY CHARACTER and set their eyes toward the horizon of Kingdom life.

The promised land of God’s blessing lies before you, and the darkness of this present world lies behind you, will you travel the path of Abram.

Another lesson from Abraham was that he was willing to…

2. EMBRACE THE KNIFE

the knife of circumcision. In Genesis 17 God makes this covenant deal with Abram and seals it with the sign of circumcision. Removal of the foreskin is a very intimate act to show us that God desires an intimate relationship with us.

What I am talking to you about tonight is not just the circumcision of foreskin…. But of your heart… as the original Hebrews were physically circumcised to show that they would daily walk in the ways of the God of Israel… an inward sign of an outward commitment.

Abraham was willing to embrace the knife not only for himself but for his entire family as well, he would endure this in order to become the spiritual leader in his own home

“as for me and my family we will serve the Lord?” you need to be willing to embrace the SYMBOLIC knife for your family as well

The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. Deut. 30:6

Embracing the knife in the O/T was a physical act of obedience, but in the N/T it becomes a spiritual act of obedience.

It is the circumcision of the heart, made without human hands but with human consent. In other words Christians make their own choice, to embrace the knife and walk in conformity with Jesus, or to refuse the knife and walk in their own free will.

In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men, but with the circumcision done by Christ. Col. 2:11