Elevate - The Story Pt 3 - Abraham

Seeking God is more than just praying or going to church once a week. It involves believing and living by the words of the Bible. The story of Abraham is important in understanding God's plan for humanity and the need for faith. God promised Abraham that he would become a great nation and be a blessing to all people. Through Abraham, Jesus would come to save mankind. Abraham took five years to act on God's call, showing that obedience takes time and preparation. When God speaks, we should respond immediately and seek His guidance in accomplishing His tasks. Seeking God is not necessarily just praying real hard. Seeking God is just not coming to church once a week. Seeking God is saying, this book right here, the Bible that you gave me, all the words that you have written to humanity, I believe these things, and therefore I pattern my life on these things right here. I'm seeking you, God. What do you want from me? Welcome to Elevate, from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama, with Pastor John DiQuatro. We hope it fills your faith and helps you to live a life for God that you've always wanted to live. We hope it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the message, and welcome to Elevate. We are continuing in our series called The Story. And I'm so excited about this, and this is our third week in it. And the reason why we're doing this is because we're becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Authentic Life Church exists to develop a community of fully devoted, authentic followers of Jesus Christ. And you cannot be a full, authentic, fully devoted follower of Christ without knowing the story of the Bible, without knowing the full Bible. And this book has given us a great way to get a synopsis of the whole story of the Bible, and the story of redemption of mankind and how God revealed Himself to humanity in order to rescue us. And this is the story of Abraham. And the story of Abraham really, really begins the story of redemption. How humanity is going to relate to God. It's an incredible story of how God took one man and built an entire nation. And this is just the beginning. Like, if you read chapter 2, you realize the nation isn't here yet. But this is the beginning of God building an entire nation. Today we call that nation Israel. And that's why we've got to keep our eyes on Israel. Those are God's special people. That is God's special place. That's where God revealed Himself, where God's presence dwelt, and where Jesus Himself was born into. So through the story of Abraham, we learn how God taught this... Well, through the story of Abraham and all throughout the story of Israel, we learn how God taught them to worship Him, how to relate to Him, how to treat one another, how to have godly relationships, and then ultimately showed them their need for a Savior, which is Jesus Christ. And I love what God's relationship with Abraham teaches us about our primary way of relating to God. And that is through a word that we call faith. We talk a lot about faith. But faith, the understanding of faith, began here with the story of Abraham. And the lesson that we learn from Abraham is the most important lesson that we can learn, and it is the foundation of your entire Christian walk. How to walk by faith. Because I don't know about you, but I've never seen God with my eyes. I've never seen Jesus. I wasn't there when all the events that took place in the Bible were happening. I wasn't there when this book was written. I have to take all of this by faith. And so that is the foundation. We do this because we believe. We're here today because we believe. Lives are being touched all around the world, and it's because you believe. And it's because of faith. And so it's an important, important lesson that we learn through the life of Abraham. Now, if you read chapter 2 in your book, you'll know that Abraham's timeline is long. A lot of stuff happened in the life and the story of Abraham. But through it all, God only spoke to him a few times, just a handful of times where God came and began to speak to him. And so we're not going to be able to cover in detail every aspect of Abraham's life, but I'm going to hit the things that I feel that God wants to bring out and have us focus on today. So in Genesis 12, God speaks to Abraham for the first time and he calls him. He's 70 years old at this time. Now, I know sometimes when we're young, we're 15, we're 13, we're 20, we're 25 and we want to know exactly what God has called us to do. Sometimes God reveals himself in stages, right? Abraham was 70 years old when God first began to speak to him and call him. Look at your neighbor and say, that's pretty old. Now, if you're older than 70, that's pretty young. All right. Genesis 12, we're going to begin in verse 1. It says this, the Lord had said to Abram. Now, Abram, God changes his name to Abraham because Abraham means father of many nations. Okay, so eventually his name gets changed. But when you see Abram, just know that it's one and the same person. He says, go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. 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. I will bless those who bless you. And whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So, Abram went as the Lord had told him and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he set out from Haran. Now, God speaks to Abram at age 70 and He gives him this humongous promise, one that I'm sure that Abram did not fully understand quite yet, the enormity of what God was promising him. But here was a childless man who was 70 years old and God promises him that through his offspring there will be a great nation that is built through him. I don't know, at age 70, if anybody's ready to have a new baby. But this is the promise that is happening to Abram, that God has given to Abram. And as he does this, the promise is that God is going to bless Abram. He's going to make Abram's name great. Well, let me just tell you, we're talking about Abram right now. Thousands and thousands of years later, we associate Abraham with faith. God has made Abraham's name great. But He says that He's going to make his name great and that he will be a blessing and that all people on the earth will be blessed through him. Through Abraham, all people on the earth will be blessed. Now remember, this is the beginning of the plan to send Jesus into the world. I told you that the whole story of this Bible, it's not just a collection of nice childhood stories that you can read at night when you're putting your child to bed or something to learn in Sunday school. This is, right here, the story of God's redemption of mankind. Ultimately, this book, from Genesis to Maps, is the story of Jesus. And so Jesus is going to come through Abraham, and this nation that comes through Abraham's offspring, all the earth will be blessed. Now listen, you are the fulfillment of that promise to Abraham. That through him, all the nations will be blessed. I don't know if you're aware, but there are probably, in our ancestry, there are probably 30 or 40 nations represented right here in this room. All nations of the earth have been blessed through the promise of Abraham. You are blessed by God. How? Because your sins have been forgiven. Because you are given an eternal home with Jesus. Not based on your works or on your righteousness, but based on His. That's why you're blessed. I'm not saying you're blessed because you have a lot of money or you have a little money or everything's easy in your life. You are blessed, ultimately, because of everything we sang about this morning. That Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross to take care of your sins so that you have a right relationship with God. And if you put your faith in Him, then you are insured an eternal home with Jesus. Abraham takes five years. This is a little aside, but Abraham takes five years to pull it all together. He hears from God when he's 70, but by age 75, it says, is when he sets out with his family and his possessions and his business. Now, you may not have known that there's a five-year gap there. We read it, and it's like, alright, so God spoke to him, and then he went. But in the timeline of Abraham, there's five years between when God told him to leave and go to when Abraham actually went. Sometimes we forget that there are real people in the Bible. That they can't just, you know, the things don't happen instantaneously, right? And so we read a paragraph or a couple of chapters, and it seems to go quick, but years and years could have gone by. The story of Noah. It took him 120 years to build that ark. But we read it, and it expands the length of, you know, five sentences of how Noah built that ark. So for Abraham, he just couldn't pick up and go, right? There were preparations. He had a business. He had a wife. He had a family to consider. You know, missionaries are called all the time to go. And I know in our organization, in the Assemblies of God, the process could take sometimes three or more years for them to get their approval, to get their training, to travel, and to raise the money that they need in order to go across the world. And so just know this, that when you're hearing from God and you're stepping out in faith, it is important that we spring to action immediately, but not necessarily that we accomplish the task immediately. And what I mean by that is if God speaks to you and says, here's what I want you to do, your first thing is say, yes, Lord. And to get in prayer and to begin to get in the Word and begin to seek God for wisdom and get the wheels turning and let the Holy Spirit lead you into the divine appointments, begin to lead you with wisdom into how He wants you to accomplish this thing that He's given you. You know, when God called us out of our last church, it was seven months before we landed here in Alabama. There was preparation that had to take place, preparation in our hearts, preparation in our finances, even preparations that had to take place in this church before the church was ready for us. Praise God. Praise God. But God may ask you to do some crazy things like He asked for Abraham. He may ask you to change careers. He may ask you to move to another part of the country to start a new ministry. Let me just say this. Don't let Moss grow under you, but also realize that if he's going to call you to something, he's going to take you through a season of preparation to walk in that calling. OK, so don't feel like if God puts something in your heart, you've got to accomplish it tomorrow. You just got to get the ball moving. You've got to get the wheels turning. All right, so that was free, and we're going to move on here. So five years has passed, and Abraham, if you've read through, you see that there's a couple of things that Abraham faces. He leaves his hometown, his family, everything he knows, his business. He picks it all up and he moves to somewhere where it says that he doesn't even know. It's just that God's going to show it to him as he goes. So he goes and he faces a famine, and he has to go into Egypt where things were more fertile, and then he comes back, and then there's a war that he fights against five kings in the area. And then we see that him and his nephew Lot that was with him, they separate and he goes to Sodom and Gomorrah, and then God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness, and God rescues Abraham's nephew Lot and his family, and all these things happen. And after that story of Sodom and Gomorrah, God comes and speaks to Abraham again. And this is in Genesis chapter 15, and he says this, beginning in verse 1. After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, what can you give me? Since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eleazar of Damascus. And Abram said, You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir. Then the word of the Lord came to him, This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. He took him outside and said, Look up at the sky and count the stars. If indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. And Abram believed the Lord, and he credited to him as righteousness. Now here in this passage, God comes to Abraham, and Abraham is kind of expressing a little bit of his doubt and his frustration. Abraham is still growing in his faith here at this time. God speaks to him. Five years later, he moves out. And then all this crazy stuff happens. And then God comes back to him and reveals him. So he's kind of like, All right, what's going on here, Lord? Right? You said you're going to make a nation out of me. I'm getting pretty old. I don't see how this is going to happen. But Abram is still growing in his faith. He's been obedient. But this is now about 15 years or so since God had revealed this plan to him. Not that he wasn't talking to God and that there weren't some exchanges between him and God, but specifically about this. It's been about 15 years, and so he's got this promise, and Abraham does not see how it's possible. So he's kind of working it out in his own mind. We've been there, right? God tells us something, and we try to begin figuring it out. So he says, Well, my servant Eliezer will have to be my heir. He's going to have to carry on my name. It's going to have to be through my servant that you're going to fulfill this promise. And then God makes it plain. He's like, No, Abraham, you're going to have a son, like a real son that's going to come from you. And the descendants that come from this son will be more than the stars in the sky. Now, when we look up at the sky, we see stars. We see a couple of stars because there's so much light pollution everywhere we go. But for him, they didn't, you know, he wasn't parked out next to a nuclear power plant. Everything was lit up, right? For him, when he looked up, it was overwhelming. There's no possible way that he could count the stars. And he is saying that this is how many descendants you're going to have, an innumerable amount. And this is where we see Abraham's faith take a leap forward. And we read it in verse 6. He says, Abram believed the Lord, and he credited to him as righteousness. Abraham's faith. God credited to him righteousness, righteousness, right standing with God. Like sin, not in the way anymore because he dared to believe God. This is powerful because at this point, Moses hadn't come on the scene. There was no Ten Commandments. There was no law. He didn't have that. There was no sacrificial system that was in place yet for sins to be forgiven. Jesus had not come on the scene yet. He had not come into the, to the earth Christmas. The first Christmas did not happen yet. So righteousness as we know it, or as we have understood it through the Bible, does not seem possible yet. Yet God declared Abraham righteous because of his faith. You know what God wants more than anything from you? That you just believe him. That you just believe him. That what's in this word is true. That's what he wants from you. That's the starting point. If you don't get to that place where you believe everything in this book, he's not going to be able to do what he wants to do in your life and help you to walk in your authentic identity. Look what it says in Hebrews 11.6. It says, and without faith, it is impossible to please God. That's a pretty strong statement right there. Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. You want to please God? Believe him. Have faith in the words in this book that he gave us and have faith in the things that he speaks to you in your quiet place before the Lord as the Holy Spirit speaks. He wants you to believe. And he wants you to believe what he says, but he wants you then to live like you believe it. See that's the earnestly seeking him part. He says if you're going to come to him, you've got to believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek him. Number one right here, saved people seek God. He's saying there is a reward when you are willing to believe what God says and put your life on the line and say yes God, like my wife said earlier, all he wants is all of you. Just say yes God. That is seeking God. Seeking God is not necessarily just praying real hard. Seeking God is just not coming to church once a week. Seeking God is saying this book right here, the Bible that you gave me, all the words that you have written to humanity, I believe these things and therefore I pattern my life on these things right here. I'm seeking you God. What do you want from me? It's not a download. I wish I had a chip when I got saved that it all went into my head and I knew everything in the word of God and I could just follow it without fail. But 25 years later, I'm still learning. That's why you've got to seek him. Right? You can't stop. You know, you don't go through a new believer's class and then you've got it all. Right? You've got to keep on seeking. It's all about faith, guys. It's all about faith. It's all about faith. So let's answer this question. What is faith then? What is faith? Hebrews 11.1 Very famous scripture that we probably have all heard at some point or another. Hebrews 11.1 Now faith is... Here's the definition. Confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Faith. It's the confidence and the assurance about what you cannot see with your eyes. About what you cannot feel with your hands and touch. Yet you act on it because you believe that God is who he says he is. And that he is faithful and that he will reward you if you walk by faith. If you seek him with your life, he will reward you. That is faith. I mean, what would you say to an 85 year old man if God said you and your wife were going to have a baby? As an 85 year old man, God is speaking this to you. What would you say about if he said you're going to have a baby? Would you believe God? The answer has to be yes. If God sent his angel or God boomed out of the sky and spoke to you at 85 years old and said you're going to have a baby, do you believe me? Your answer has to be yes. That's how you please God. We don't have faith. We don't see it. We can't understand it. We can't touch it. But we've got to believe. But here's where we miss it sometimes. We say that we believe in this word. We say that we believe God. Right? If I were to say, come on, do you believe this word? Everybody would be like, yeah! Because that's what you say when you're in church. The problem is sometimes we don't live like it. We don't actually live like we believe the words that are in this book. Right? The Bible is clear that when we are generous toward God, that he'll take care of us. Yet so many people will continue to withhold financially from God. However, they'll expect him to provide for them. You're Jehovah Jireh, my provider. Saying, well, get on board with the program. I told you how you can walk in that relationship with me, right? The Bible is clear that we don't have to work for our righteousness. Yet we still act like our good deeds are earning heavenly brownie points. And then we judge others for not living to our high spiritual level of legalism. The Bible is clear that if we humble ourselves, that he will lift us up and exalt us. Yet we still try to be first. We still try to be recognized. We still try to be somebody and push other people down in order to get there. The Bible is clear that loving our enemies pleases God and pays heavenly rewards. Yet we still fight and bicker and slander and gossip and get offended and let our offense turn into revenge and do all kinds of crazy things. We're the people of God. We ought not to be acting that way. But we won't act that way if we believe what's in this book. Faith is absolutely, and I've heard this my whole saved life. Faith is the currency of heaven. And faith is nothing if it's not carried out with our actions. Actions that prove that we actually believe what God says. If you believe it, you're going to do it. I've talked to parents throughout the years, and Christian parents are like, I'm not going to force what I believe on my children. I'm like, then you don't believe it. If you believed it, you'd want your children to believe it, too. End of story. I'm just going to drop that one right in there for you. We've somehow come to believe and are taught that faith. Now I'm getting ready to step on your toes. So looking at anyone got steel-toed boots. All right. We've somehow come to believe and have been taught that faith is a tool in order to get what we want. If I pray loud enough, if I believe hard enough, or long enough, then God is going to do something, and it becomes very selfish. It becomes all about me. And yes, part of our understanding of faith is to believe the promises of God and to know that He is working because He's a loving Father. He wants to bless us. He wants to heal us. He wants to provide for us. So I'm not saying that you shouldn't believe God for things. Keep praying. Keep asking God for what you need. That's very biblical. Keep believing. But know that faith is more than just believing really hard for something. Faith is not just about getting something from God. Faith is about doing something for God. It's acting on His Word and believing what He said and living like it. Look what it says in James 2, 17. In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead. It's not faith. If your faith does not inform your actions, then you don't have faith. End of story. If your faith does not inform your actions, if it does not inform the way that you live your life, then you don't really believe. Then it's not faith. That's why I said earlier, the lesson that we learn from Abraham is the most important lesson that we can learn and the foundation of your entire Christian walk. So here's the question. Do you believe what this book says? Do you believe God? Do you believe that if you do things His way that you will reap godly benefits? Do you believe that if you obey the voice of the Holy Spirit in your life that God will lead you toward your authentic identity in Christ? Do you believe that if God says it's right or God says that it's wrong, then that it's an absolute and it is not to be questioned or filtered through the lens of our current culture? And if the answer to all those questions is yes, then the next question is then are you willing to align your life, your actions, your thoughts, your words, your decisions according to the Word and the will of God? You know, Abraham was a highly successful, well-loved, well-respected man in his hometown of Ur. That's where he came from, the town of Ur. But God called him out. And he made some really far-fetched, outlandish promises that probably made no sense to Abraham. But Abraham chose to act on his faith in God and God was pleased by that. And although there was no law, no sacrificial system, Jesus was not yet on the scene. He was considered righteous because he put his faith into action. Now, if you've read chapter 2, you saw God continue to confirm His promise to Abraham and Abraham just kept on believing and he just kept on acting until his son Isaac was born. He did have a baby in his old age. Now, after Isaac was born, God tested him. I'm not going to preach on this, but just going to gloss over it quick. But God tested Abraham and asked him to sacrifice that son, that promised son Isaac. He asked him to sacrifice him. Which Abraham, it says he got up early the next morning. This time he didn't take five years of preparation. God said, do it. He said, okay. Got up the next morning and he believed wholeheartedly that God would redeem that situation. And of course, God did not allow him to follow through with sacrificing his son, but he was teaching Abraham something. And therefore, because he's the father of faith, he's the father of all that we believe, right? That means he was teaching us this same lesson through Abraham, because through Abraham all the peoples on the earth will be blessed. But he taught him this, that unswerving faith in God ultimately brings about righteousness and pleases God. It's how we have to relate to God. It is the only way. Unswerving faith in God. Let me tell you this. Mentally agreeing with the Christian faith, but never doing a thing to allow this word to change the way you act, or speak, or think, then you're not living by faith. And you're not pleasing God. I get so frustrated sometimes, and I know that's a human emotion, and I need the Lord to help me with that, but I get frustrated when I see for years and years and years people sitting and hearing the Word of God preached, and I've watched nothing change in their life. Not one thing. They're still doing all the same stuff they were doing. All they've done is they've had a mental agreement to say, okay, I want to do this. I'll do this Christian thing. I'll run the church. I'll sing the songs. I'll put a little money in. But then nothing changes. Salvation comes only by faith. By the grace of God. But faith is so much more than just saying, I believe this. Faith requires repentance. Changing your ways. It requires following Jesus. It requires making Him Lord of your life, and marrying your actions with what you say that you believe. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We hope this message encouraged, inspired, and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website, authenticlife.tv, for more information about Authentic Life Church, to find out what we have going on, or to make a donation. You can also find us on Facebook. We'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery, and youth programs, so bring the family. For Pastor John DiQuatro, I'm Scott Chestnut. Thanks again for listening, and God bless you.