And the Lord said to Abram, Leave your country, your house and your father's house and go to the land which I will show you.
12:2 I will make you a great country, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will also make others blessed.
12:3 I will bless those who bless you. I will curse him who curses you; All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.
Abram went as the Lord commanded him. Lot also went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Introduction:
In our faith life, everyone longs for God's blessing and wants to be a blessed person. But what is the secret of being blessed? Today, we will explore the secret of being blessed through the story of Abraham.
Outline:
I. Leaving-Blessed Choice: The Call of God's Sovereignty 12: 1
Genesis 12 explains God's call for Abram's sovereignty. God said to Abram, you should leave your hometown, your family and your father's house. From this passage, we can learn two lessons: the first is the sovereignty of God's choice. We can come before God today, not because we chose God, but because God chose us. We are blessed not because of our prayers and efforts, but because God himself is a blessed God, and God is willing to bless us. Many times, we always have the idea of trading, thinking that after doing something for God, we can ask for God's blessing or grace. In fact, true grace is given to us by God, and we don't deserve it, nor do we deserve it. God wants to bless us, so he gave us the will to follow him, and he blessed us. Just like Abram in this story, before God spoke to Abram, God had decided to bless him. The order given to Abram was just a way for God to bless him. The second lesson we need to learn is our homework. God asked Abram to leave his local father's house in order to make Abram's life change from relying on himself, his family and others to relying on God. God asked Abram to leave his familiar environment and live a life of relying on God wholeheartedly, and nothing would hinder Abram's trust. Do we also have many places of fathers' homes today? We should also leave those people and things that will interfere with our trust and regard God as our satisfaction, our reliance and our helper.
Second, go and go-the process of being blessed: the obedience of people's confidence. 12:4
"Abram went as the Lord commanded" (v. 4). This is man's response to God's command, and this is faith. Self-confidence is not blindly saying "I believe, I believe", but a correct response and decision to the myth. Remember, God's word precedes people's beliefs. In other words, even the obedience of people's faith needs to be in the word of God. To go is to take the word of God as the principle, and to go is to act and obey. Of course, the obedience of this belief also needs to grow. Therefore, in Genesis 12, the call of God's sovereignty is consistent with the obedience of human belief. By faith, when Abraham was called, he obeyed and went out to the place where he would get an inheritance in the future. I don't know where to go when I go out (Hebrews 1 1:8) When Abram arrived in Canaan with confidence, "Canaanites lived there". (v. 6) The land was not empty, but occupied, and Abram could not find his tent. What was Abram's mood? The Lord appeared to Abram and said, I will give this land to your descendants. (v. 7) This shows that the road to faith requires waiting and patience. Everything has its time. Faith is when there is no hope, because faith still has hope. How did Abram do it? Abram built an altar there to the Lord who appeared to him. From there he moved to the mountain east of Bethel and pitched his tent. Bethel in the west and Ai in the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. (Verses 7-8) The altars and tents built are of great significance. Building an altar for God and building a tent for himself are the two pillars of Abraham's faith, which shows that he is a stranger in the world. Later, Genesis 12: 10 said, "There was famine in that place." There is a famine in the land that listens to God and walks in faith, and it is a great famine. This is a trial. Faith must be tested. This was arranged by God to practice Abraham's faith. What did Abram do when he was tested? "Abram went down to Egypt and stayed there for a few days, because the famine there was very serious." (section 10) Did Abram do the right thing? In other words, is this an act of believing in God? Why didn't God stop Abram from going to Egypt and allow him to do so? In order to make Abraham the father of faith, God asked him to learn not to rely on himself, but on God's methods. This is God's plan to practice Abraham's faith. Abraham's faith has not been tested or cultivated. Everyone is the same. In short, from chapter 12, Abraham entered the confidence school, and in chapter 22, when he finished his graduation exam, he was tried and practiced a lot.
Three. Promise-the guarantee of blessing: God's faithfulness and conservatism 12:2-3
In these two verses, God promised Abram, "I will bless you and make your name great, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse anyone who curses you; All the families of the earth will be blessed through you. God's promise will come true, and his will is unstoppable. God's faithfulness and care for us are the guarantee of our happiness. Remember when we talked about famine, Abram went down to Egypt, and God didn't stop him. But what happened to Abram when he went down to Egypt? What did he do? In order to save his life, he lied that his wife was his sister. This kind of unconfident behavior will lead to unexpected consequences. The wife was taken away by Pharaoh and exchanged for cattle, sheep, camels, donkeys, donkeys and servants. (Section 15- 16) God's permission is so far, he can't wait and see any longer, so he intervened in this matter in time. "The Lord brought great disaster on Pharaoh and his family because of Sarai, Abram's wife." (verse 17) God protected Sarai from infringement. God did this, of course, not because of Abraham's qualifications and achievements, nor because of Abraham's faith. Disaster should also befall Abraham. This is the history of God's sovereign act of sending Jesus Christ to realize salvation through the descendants of Abraham and Sarah. "Why do you say she is your sister, so that I can marry her? Now that your wife is here, you can take her away! " (Verse 19) "Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev with his wife and Lot and all that he had. (Gen 13: 1) At this time, Abraham began to rise. In the past, he took the road of faith, and the lesson to be taught by "going on" (12: 10) is clear. God created the chosen through practice, and since he has chosen, he must protect it to the end. We are blessed by God, not because we can do well, but because God is faithful. Even if we break our promise and fail, God is still trustworthy and will keep his blessings and grace.
Conclusion:
Brothers, we should believe that God will protect, guide and care for those who are saved by his choices, just like Abraham. Let us all bow down before God's sovereignty, believe in a faithful God, enter his rich promises with confidence and accept his blessings!
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