If I give myself to This and know it will hold me up" Genesis 12 :1-4
1. Abram is challenged by God to leave some thing’s
• He was challenged to leave his Fathers house
• He was challenged to leave his country
• He was challenged to leave his kindred
2. First let's look at Abrahams Fathers House God asks him to leave
• In was a faithless ness in the God of Israel
• Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods
• Terahs house made idols for the gods they worshipped he had a very good and successful busine
• Terah in old ancient manuscripts share that he According to rabbinical tradition Terah was a wicked idolatrous priest who manufactured idols Abram, in opposition to his father’s idol shop, smashed his father’s idols and chased customers away. Terah then brought his unruly son before Nimrod, who threw him into a fiery furnace, yet Abram miraculously escaped. The Zohar says that when God saved Abram from the furnace, Terah repented
•
3. 2nd Abraham is challenged to leave his country
• Its his homeland the birth place challenged to leave old memories
4. Third Abraham is asked to leave his kindred
• The call of God had been for Abraham to separate from his relatives, and to follow God by faith, Abraham was called upon to separate himself from everything that would hinder the progress of the walk of faith Abandoning the clan meant leaving one's only source of law, morality, safety, security and identity. For Abram to leave family was to put his future survival - both psychological and personal
5. Abraham is asked to leave fathers house, his country, his kindred but he is also asked to separate
• Anything that prevents us from progressing as God would desire is a weight that must go, Hebrews tells us , let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
6. Abraham is asked to leave fathers house, his country, his kindred, he is asked to separate and he is asked to surrender
The Bible tells us that Abraham did "as the Lord had spoken to him." Abraham learned early on that the secret to pleasing God is simply doing what He says, to the letter! Even though the Lord's call upon his life would be difficult, it was the only course of action that made sense.
• Surrender is to put our everything on the altar Rom. 12:1-2.
• Surrender is to submit to Gods authority I submit to worship, praise, prayer, bible study,
• Surrender is to yield one’s life to God .
.
In conclusion:
There's a story about a Bible translator in India, who was working to translate the New Testament into one of the many dialects of the subcontinent. He was looking for a word for "faith," and was having a difficult time of it.
One day, a young boy of the village came into his study. Hunched over his manuscript, the missionary waved the lad over to a chair in the corner, saying he'd be with him shortly.
He looked up, moments later, to find the boy walking around the chair, looking at it from every angle, but not sitting on it. The missionary repeated, "Have a seat and I'll be with you in a moment." The boy continued to examine the chair in amazement.
Then the Bible translator realized what was going on. This was such a primitive village that the boy had never in his life seen a Western-style chair. He wasn't sure he could sit on such a flimsy-looking thing and have it bear his weight.
The boy then asked a question, in his native language. Included within it was a single word that meant, "Can I give myself to this and know it will hold me up?"
We may be doing the same thing can I give myself to this and know it will hold me up. Maybe Abram did the same thing but remember he did as the Lord had spoken to him.
The results of giving his self to this God
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. [3] I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you .” …
Note leaving the Fathers House, Kindred, and Country Abram found out God could hold him up
Note separation I know it will hold me up let us separate to God
Note surrender I know it will hold me up let us surrender
Let's give ourselves to God. God will hold me up.
