Last time we were talking about how God desired to have Abraham separate from 7 different things. And through the course of these separations, God would reveal His will and His purposes for Abraham and in turn Abraham would worship God in a greater measure.
These 7 separations we all must go through in order to be mature… to be who God wants us to be.
We went over 5 separations of Abraham so far. Separation from your Country… separation from your Family… separating from the World's systems. Separation from having an outward appearance of righteousness, but still desiring the things of this world and the separation from a desire to obtain wealth. But like last time the main point I want you to get if you don't get anything else is "Separation leads to revelation which leads to a greater dimension of worship."
Questions:
What areas of your life seem like they've taken forever to happen?
Have you ever tried to manipulate a situation so that it would happen faster?
Have you ever heard the phrase, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."? This separation is all about that phrase.
The Separation from Ishmael
This is the self-effort of our own HUMAN WISDOM and STRENGTH to bring about the PROMISE
Gen 16:1
16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you want your own thing bad enough, God will allow it to happen. It was a miracle that Abraham and Hagar conceived, after all, Abraham was 86 years old. Miracles can happen. But just because they do, doesn't mean that God is behind them. What is the fruit of it? Sarah kicked out Hagar while she was pregnant and sent her into the wilderness.
Verse 7 states:
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.
The Amplified Bible says it like this:
12 And he [Ishmael] will be as a [b]wild ass among men; his hand will be against every man and every man’s hand against him, and he will live to the east and on the borders of all his kinsmen.
As we learned last week east is where they came from. That's where Ai was. Ai means ruins. When we try to accomplish God's plan through our own reason and in our own strength we create an ass and become ruined. Usually that ass is ourselves.
Sidenote: Like we said in previous weeks, this is where we get Islam. Muslims are direct descendants of Ishmael. Here's the thing… if Abraham hadn't used his own strength and Sarah's own wisdom to accomplish this, they wouldn't have created the thing that has been a thorn in the side of Israel even up until this day.
Sometimes we think we know better than God. Sometimes we go ahead of God and try to do things ourselves in our own strength. You put those two things together and you are asking for a world of hurt.
You don't think that Abraham was walking around, his chest all out when Ishmael was born saying, "Look what I did! You see what I produced? I produced a child and I'm an old man aren't I cool?" And God said, "Yes, look what you did. And because of what you did, I'm not going to speak to you for 13 years." 13 is the number of rebellion. If you want to increase the amount of time it takes for God to accomplish something in you or for you, just try to do things on your own… by your own ideas, by your own power. You will just prolong that which God is trying to accomplish in your life. Don't run ahead of God. You'll note here that Hagar is an Egyptian. Separating from Egypt was our 3rd separation. And what separation was that? Separating from doing things the way the world does them. The idea of having Hagar produce the promised child sounded good to Sarah, but what it actually was, was attempting to do God's will the way the world would do it. So Sarah's reasoning and Abraham's strength created a wild man who had the heart of his Egyptian mother.
So how does Abraham feel about Ishmael?
Genesis 17:18
18 And [he] said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!
You can sum up Ishmael by saying that he represents doing things "MY WAY".
So what happened to Ishmael?
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
Again, if you want something bad enough, God will give it to you. God blessed Ishmael because of Abraham. But His Covenant… what God wanted to do… would be done through Isaac. That's why you can be successful on the outside and God not be in it. You can do things your way and maybe God will bless it, but it won't be what God wants. And that thing will be a constant thorn in your side until you separate from it. We need to learn that there is only one way and that's God's way. Woe to you if you tell God you want to do things your way. That's why it's hard to judge things from an outward appearance. It's easy to think that someone is righteous and being blessed by God when their outward circumstances look great. It's also easy to judge people who are going through tough times and think that there must be some sin in their life that is leading them to suffer. Remember, God looks at the heart. Don't be fooled by outside appearances.
So Isaac is born but there still is the issue of Ishmael. Genesis 21 Verse 8
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
Sidenote: Notice that they celebrated the birth of Isaac when the child was weaned. It was their custom to celebrate the birth of their children when they were old enough and healthy enough to eat solid food. You want God to celebrate you? Move on from only drinking spiritual milk and move on to eating spiritual food. God celebrates the most when a Christian starts becoming mature.
9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
When we give up doing things our own way, it can be quite distressing. We do things our own way because we don't really trust God with our lives. So when He asks us to give up doing things our own way, it's quite difficult.
12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
This is the Separation!
Now the revelation and the greater dimension of worship that comes with this separation is also caught up in the next separation.
Questions:
What do you love the most in life? Could be a person, a thing, a hobby or a hope?
How would you feel if God took that thing away?
The Separation from Isaac
Why are you serving God? Is it because He saved you? Is it because He healed you? These are great things. But these are wrong motives when it comes why we serve God? For those of you who have felt God's presence… if you never felt His presence again, would you serve Him? If God never blessed you from this day forward, would you love Him?
What is Isaac? Isaac represents the PROMISE.
Genesis 22
Abraham Tested
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
Say what? God had just brought Abraham through the 6th separation. 6 is the number of man. Ishmael was made by man so that's why he was number 6. So now that God had brought him through that, God was ready to perfect Abraham's dedication. Do you love Isaac more than you love God? Do you love what God has promised you more than you love Him? Would you love God if after He gave you the promise, He took it back? Do you love God or do you only love what God gives you?
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
This is the separation!
11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”
This is the revelation!
Verse 5 is the first mention of the word Worship. True worship doesn't take place if you always are receiving from God. True worship takes place when you give to God.
This is the greater dimension of worship!
When we worship God. When we commune with Him, He reveals more and more about who He is. In this place, Abraham learned that God is Jehovah Jireh, His provider.
Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice
Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
God did provide the lamb. He provided His one and only son, Jesus. Just like He asked Abraham to do. You think God was overjoyed by Abraham's faith… that Abraham was willing to give up the one thing He loved more than anything? You think God was happy because now He had found a friend. Someone who God could talk to and would understand what He would have to do for all of mankind. You think they talk together up in heaven about this? That God had found someone He could relate to. Someone else who had to potentially sacrifice his one and only son?
Why was Abraham willing to sacrifice that which He loved for God?
Hebrews 11:17-18 says
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
He trusted God with not only His life… but with that which He loved. Abraham trusted that God had a plan and that it was better than His own. He had already gone through 6 separations… each one stripping away His own self-sufficiency. Stripping away the belief that He could do it without God… that He knew better than God. Once you get through this 7th separation, you realize it's all about God and that God can be trusted to accomplish what He said He would accomplish. Once you've gone through these 7 separations, God doesn't have any more requirements for you. This is the place of maturity. When you can say to God, I give everything I am to you. There's nothing in me you can't have. It's all yours, God. Do with it what you will.
Philippians 3:12-14
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, 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 is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Abraham forgot about Ur of the Chaldeans. He forgot about Ai… The ruins of his past. He pressed on toward Bethel… the House of God. God told Abraham that God himself was His great reward… that is the goal we are pressing on towards… the prize for which God has called us heavenward.
Are you tired of trying to make things happen your own way? Are you tired of striving and running around and over thinking every aspect of your life? Are you ready to trust God? Trust that He has a better way for you. Trust that He's going to take care of you. Trust that He is going to come through with what He's promised.
One of the biggest questions in the christian life that God asks us is this: would you still love me… would you still serve me if I never blessed you with anything else the rest of your life? What if you never got the job that you want? What if you never got the husband or wife that you want? What if you didn't get the children you want? Would you still love God? Would you still serve God? If college doesn't go the way you want or if God takes a loved one from you? Would you still love Him? Would you still serve Him?
We love and serve God because of who He is… not because of what He's done for us. If you base how you feel about God on whether He blesses you or not, the moment you fail to receive what you want or have what you love taken from you, you'll turn away from Him. Think about this in relationship terms. Do you love that boyfriend or girlfriend, that husband or wife, based on what they do for you? Or do you love them for who they are? Is it about what you get out of them? Is that what motivates you to love? Or do you see the person… see them for who they are… and realize you want to love them… just based on who they are.
Do you know what Worship means?
It means giving adoration and reverence based on being worthy. We worship God because He is worthy. Not for what we can get from Him.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Thursday, January 23, 2014
The Seven Separations of Abraham 5... Wealth
Last time we met, we were talking about how God desired to have Abraham separate from 7 different things. And through the course of these separations, God would reveal His will and His purposes for Abraham and in turn Abraham would worship God in a greater measure.
Separation from a desire for Wealth.
Abram Rescues Lot Guess who's back? Our boy Lot. Not only has he moved down into Sodom and Gomorrah but 4 Kings have captured the city and taken Lot and all his stuff. Lot lusted after wealth and wound up losing all the wealth he had. Abraham could care less about wealth and he had plenty. Gen 14:11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. 12 They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom. 14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
Dan means Judge and Daniel means God is my Judge. Anyway, Abraham brought his trained men together to execute some righteous judgement.
15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people. 17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Sidenote: In Hebrews they talk about Jesus saying
Hebrews 7:11
If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?
It's just so awesome when you see Jesus show up in the old testament. This won't be the first time Jesus shows up in this passage. Melchizedek brought out the bread and wine. And Abram tithed to him. It is not surprising that when God separates you from your love of wealth, that tithing is prescribed. God has called all of us to give a tenth of what we earn to Him. If we are caught up on being wealthy, this can be very difficult. Moving on.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”
1Timothy 6:6-10
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
This is the Separation!
Abram refused the support of the King of Sodom. What would you do if someone offered you all the money you could want and all you had to do was compromise? What would you do? Abram separated from the desire to gain wealth through compromise.
Talk about going on auditions for Beer commercials and praying about not getting the commercials because I didn't want to make money off of promoting beer.
The Lord’s Covenant With Abram
15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,[a] your very great reward.[b]”
This is the revelation! God shows Abraham in a vision, that not only will He protect Him, He will also bless him. Not only with stuff… but with His very self. He tells Abraham not to fear and also tells him that he has God Himself as his reward. You don't need stuff when the God of the Universe who owns everything is your reward.
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
You want to see something cool? Once you separate from a desire to gain wealth, a change happens in your desires. What did God just reveal to Abraham? That he needn't fear and that all his needs would be met. If you ask people why they strive so much to make money, they will tell you, they need security. They want stuff in life. They don't want to worry. But once you choose having a relationship with God over the need for wealth… when you realize that your relationship with God is the only way you can be free of fear and have all your needs met, then you start to desire the things of God. God had just stated to Abraham that he would never have to fear and that all his needs would be met… what does Abraham say? Essentially he says to God, "So what?" Initially that sounds kinda ballsy and ungrateful. But you got to see the heart in this thing. Before God showed up on the scene, Abraham was old and so was Sarah. They hadn't had kids yet and had probably come to terms with never having them. God appears to Abraham and tells him that He is going to make a great nation from his seed. Abraham didn't ask God for a child. God told Abraham that He was going to give him a son. God giving Abraham a son didn't have to do with Abraham's purposes or plans… but with God's. God knew what He wanted to accomplish through Abraham's seed. It wasn't really about Abraham.
So now, Abraham has separated himself from 5 things that God has asked him to. Through these separations, it finally clicks with Abraham that it isn't about him. He realizes that being safe and secure means nothing if there isn't a greater purpose to go along with it.
There are people who have good jobs, homes and healthy families but their life doesn't really have any greater purpose. Some of them are fine with that. Others wonder why they feel discontent. They have everything and yet they aren't happy. And it's because in the grand scheme of things, their life doesn't have any lasting meaning. Remember, relationships are the only things that are eternal. Our relationship with God and our relationships with each other. If you aren't motivated out of those two dynamics, you really aren't living for anything important.
Being secure and being able to do whatever you want to do in life means nothing if God isn't in it. Security and wealth are not an end in and of themselves. Having those things should be centered around how you can use them for God. Not just so we can do what we want. Abraham asks himself, "Why did I go on this journey in the first place? What did God promise me at the beginning? Where is this son you spoke about, Lord?" So since he's gone through all these separations, his relationship with God has increased to such a point where he can question God. And here's the crazy thing… God wants to talk to him. God sees that Abraham is about the purposes of God and engages him in a deeper way. When you realize it's not about you, but about Him, God will reveal Himself to you like a friend. Sharing His deepest secrets with you. So in verse 4, God reveals more things to Abraham.
4 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.” 5 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[d] be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
This is greater revelation! When we are friends with God and we believe Him, He will reveal deeper things to us. What is it that makes God stand up and take notice of you? Is it that you're talented? Is it that you're perfect? No! It's that you believe Him. When we believe God, believe in who He is… believe in what He's done in our lives… Believe what He says about us… Believe that He is going to take care of us and do what He promised… God credits that to us as righteousness.
7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Here is a greater dimension of worship! Through these sacrifices, God revealed something about their relationship with each other. Now back then, when you wanted to make a covenant with someone you took animals and cut them in half and then you and the person you were making a covenant with would walk down through the middle of them. You would join your arms together and say, "May God judge between you and I if you break this covenant." Meaning, may you be like these animals who are torn apart if you break this covenant. Pretty hardcore stuff. That's why God takes marriage so seriously.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
Ladies and gentlemen, if you notice here, Abraham didn't walk in between the sacrifices. So who did? God often appeared as smoke in the old testament which is what the smoking firepot is. But I thought God was making a covenant with Abraham? He was making a covenant with Abraham and most importantly Abraham's seed. And who was Abraham's seed?
Galations 3:15-16
15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”[a] meaning one person, who is Christ.
The blazing torch is the Light of the World… the seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ. God said His word is a lamp unto our feet. In John, it says that Jesus is the Word of God. So God made a covenant with Himself. Abraham was resting the whole time this covenant was made. And since he didn't walk between the sacrifices, it wasn't up to Abraham to keep it. You can't earn these promises of God. You can't do anything to uphold this covenant. But God made a promise with Himself, meaning He would complete the work in you.
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until they day of Christ Jesus.
God does all the work. God does all the heavy lifting when it comes to you becoming who He created you to be. His grace has made it possible. There's a reason that Jesus said, "He yoke is easy and His burden is light." He does all the work. There's nothing you can do to earn this or to uphold it. Only Christ in you, the Hope of Glory.
If you haven't separated from the desire to attain wealth, you will always ask the questions, "Where is the money coming from?" "How can I do any of these things?" "Who will take care of me… take care of my family?" "How do I take care of me and mine?"
God says, take care of my purposes… believe what I've said to you… what I've promised… and all those other things will be taken care of.
Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
24-33
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Do you want to know God better? Do you want to hear His secrets? Abraham had been through 5 separations, the least that God could do was tell him some things. Do you want to stop striving and worrying about how your future will turn out? Believe God. Trust God. Talk to God. Decide to have God's purposes fulfilled in your life above what you want. When you separate from a desire to get wealth, you cease striving in your own strength to provide your own security… your own happiness. When you cease searching for your security in money and striving to gain it, you allow God to do the work that He's already promised He'd do for you as a co-heir with Jesus Christ… as His son or daughter.
Psalm 37:4
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Do you want to desire what God desires? Separate from the desire to get wealth. You can't serve two masters. And either God is trustworthy… or He isn't.
Separation from a desire for Wealth.
Abram Rescues Lot Guess who's back? Our boy Lot. Not only has he moved down into Sodom and Gomorrah but 4 Kings have captured the city and taken Lot and all his stuff. Lot lusted after wealth and wound up losing all the wealth he had. Abraham could care less about wealth and he had plenty. Gen 14:11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. 12 They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom. 14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
Dan means Judge and Daniel means God is my Judge. Anyway, Abraham brought his trained men together to execute some righteous judgement.
15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people. 17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Sidenote: In Hebrews they talk about Jesus saying
Hebrews 7:11
If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?
It's just so awesome when you see Jesus show up in the old testament. This won't be the first time Jesus shows up in this passage. Melchizedek brought out the bread and wine. And Abram tithed to him. It is not surprising that when God separates you from your love of wealth, that tithing is prescribed. God has called all of us to give a tenth of what we earn to Him. If we are caught up on being wealthy, this can be very difficult. Moving on.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”
1Timothy 6:6-10
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
This is the Separation!
Abram refused the support of the King of Sodom. What would you do if someone offered you all the money you could want and all you had to do was compromise? What would you do? Abram separated from the desire to gain wealth through compromise.
Talk about going on auditions for Beer commercials and praying about not getting the commercials because I didn't want to make money off of promoting beer.
The Lord’s Covenant With Abram
15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,[a] your very great reward.[b]”
This is the revelation! God shows Abraham in a vision, that not only will He protect Him, He will also bless him. Not only with stuff… but with His very self. He tells Abraham not to fear and also tells him that he has God Himself as his reward. You don't need stuff when the God of the Universe who owns everything is your reward.
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
You want to see something cool? Once you separate from a desire to gain wealth, a change happens in your desires. What did God just reveal to Abraham? That he needn't fear and that all his needs would be met. If you ask people why they strive so much to make money, they will tell you, they need security. They want stuff in life. They don't want to worry. But once you choose having a relationship with God over the need for wealth… when you realize that your relationship with God is the only way you can be free of fear and have all your needs met, then you start to desire the things of God. God had just stated to Abraham that he would never have to fear and that all his needs would be met… what does Abraham say? Essentially he says to God, "So what?" Initially that sounds kinda ballsy and ungrateful. But you got to see the heart in this thing. Before God showed up on the scene, Abraham was old and so was Sarah. They hadn't had kids yet and had probably come to terms with never having them. God appears to Abraham and tells him that He is going to make a great nation from his seed. Abraham didn't ask God for a child. God told Abraham that He was going to give him a son. God giving Abraham a son didn't have to do with Abraham's purposes or plans… but with God's. God knew what He wanted to accomplish through Abraham's seed. It wasn't really about Abraham.
So now, Abraham has separated himself from 5 things that God has asked him to. Through these separations, it finally clicks with Abraham that it isn't about him. He realizes that being safe and secure means nothing if there isn't a greater purpose to go along with it.
There are people who have good jobs, homes and healthy families but their life doesn't really have any greater purpose. Some of them are fine with that. Others wonder why they feel discontent. They have everything and yet they aren't happy. And it's because in the grand scheme of things, their life doesn't have any lasting meaning. Remember, relationships are the only things that are eternal. Our relationship with God and our relationships with each other. If you aren't motivated out of those two dynamics, you really aren't living for anything important.
Being secure and being able to do whatever you want to do in life means nothing if God isn't in it. Security and wealth are not an end in and of themselves. Having those things should be centered around how you can use them for God. Not just so we can do what we want. Abraham asks himself, "Why did I go on this journey in the first place? What did God promise me at the beginning? Where is this son you spoke about, Lord?" So since he's gone through all these separations, his relationship with God has increased to such a point where he can question God. And here's the crazy thing… God wants to talk to him. God sees that Abraham is about the purposes of God and engages him in a deeper way. When you realize it's not about you, but about Him, God will reveal Himself to you like a friend. Sharing His deepest secrets with you. So in verse 4, God reveals more things to Abraham.
4 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.” 5 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[d] be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
This is greater revelation! When we are friends with God and we believe Him, He will reveal deeper things to us. What is it that makes God stand up and take notice of you? Is it that you're talented? Is it that you're perfect? No! It's that you believe Him. When we believe God, believe in who He is… believe in what He's done in our lives… Believe what He says about us… Believe that He is going to take care of us and do what He promised… God credits that to us as righteousness.
7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Here is a greater dimension of worship! Through these sacrifices, God revealed something about their relationship with each other. Now back then, when you wanted to make a covenant with someone you took animals and cut them in half and then you and the person you were making a covenant with would walk down through the middle of them. You would join your arms together and say, "May God judge between you and I if you break this covenant." Meaning, may you be like these animals who are torn apart if you break this covenant. Pretty hardcore stuff. That's why God takes marriage so seriously.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
Ladies and gentlemen, if you notice here, Abraham didn't walk in between the sacrifices. So who did? God often appeared as smoke in the old testament which is what the smoking firepot is. But I thought God was making a covenant with Abraham? He was making a covenant with Abraham and most importantly Abraham's seed. And who was Abraham's seed?
Galations 3:15-16
15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”[a] meaning one person, who is Christ.
The blazing torch is the Light of the World… the seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ. God said His word is a lamp unto our feet. In John, it says that Jesus is the Word of God. So God made a covenant with Himself. Abraham was resting the whole time this covenant was made. And since he didn't walk between the sacrifices, it wasn't up to Abraham to keep it. You can't earn these promises of God. You can't do anything to uphold this covenant. But God made a promise with Himself, meaning He would complete the work in you.
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until they day of Christ Jesus.
God does all the work. God does all the heavy lifting when it comes to you becoming who He created you to be. His grace has made it possible. There's a reason that Jesus said, "He yoke is easy and His burden is light." He does all the work. There's nothing you can do to earn this or to uphold it. Only Christ in you, the Hope of Glory.
If you haven't separated from the desire to attain wealth, you will always ask the questions, "Where is the money coming from?" "How can I do any of these things?" "Who will take care of me… take care of my family?" "How do I take care of me and mine?"
God says, take care of my purposes… believe what I've said to you… what I've promised… and all those other things will be taken care of.
Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
24-33
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Do you want to know God better? Do you want to hear His secrets? Abraham had been through 5 separations, the least that God could do was tell him some things. Do you want to stop striving and worrying about how your future will turn out? Believe God. Trust God. Talk to God. Decide to have God's purposes fulfilled in your life above what you want. When you separate from a desire to get wealth, you cease striving in your own strength to provide your own security… your own happiness. When you cease searching for your security in money and striving to gain it, you allow God to do the work that He's already promised He'd do for you as a co-heir with Jesus Christ… as His son or daughter.
Psalm 37:4
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Do you want to desire what God desires? Separate from the desire to get wealth. You can't serve two masters. And either God is trustworthy… or He isn't.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
The Seven Separations of Abraham: 3-4.
Last week we starting talking about how to become a hero of the faith. We talked about how Faith is the key activator when it comes to accomplishing anything for God. We starting looking at Abraham. How God desired to have Abraham separate from 7 different things. And through the course of these separations, God would reveal His will and His purposes for Abraham and in turn Abraham would worship God in a greater measure.
These 7 separations each Christian must go through in order to be mature… to be who God wants us to be.
We went over the first two separations of Abraham so far. Separation from your Country… separating yourself from you comfort zones, the boundary lines you are familiar with and anything that may be limiting your relationship with God.
The second separation was separation from your Family. Sometimes our natural families or our spiritual families can try to limit what God is doing in us. We have to be willing to put God first in these situations. You cannot love your family more than you love God and expect to do anything great in the Kingdom of God.
But like last week the main point I want you to get if you don't get anything else is "Separation leads to revelation which leads to a greater dimension of worship."
This brings us to our 3rd separation. The separation from Egypt.
1) When things are going rough in your life, what are the things you turn to for comfort?
2) When it comes to making decisions are you a planner or do you do things on instinct? Are you strictly objective or impulsive? Why or why not?
Separation from Egypt
Abram in Egypt
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” 14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. 17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
God intervened for a liar. In case you were wondering if Abraham had it all together after the first two separations, he most assuredly did not. Abraham still didn't have a ton of faith. Verse 10 states that there was a great famine. When times got rough Abraham went to Egypt, which represents worldly things or systems. We do stupid things when we are afraid. When times get rough in our own life, it can lead to seeking comfort in the things of this world. Some of you may turn to food when things get rough. Some may turn to porn. Some may turn to shopping or watching tv. Egypt represents things of this world we run to when things get bad. You know the great thing about this separation? God made the separation for him. God is faithful. And He will get you where He wants you to go. Abraham failed in his own strength and God came and rescued him. But guess what? God didn't reveal anything new to Abraham. Abraham's obedience and faith in God is what enabled God to show Abraham His visions… His will… His purpose.
Romans 12:2 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
So what did Abraham do? 13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. 3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Rev 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Abram went back and did what he did before. Back to worshipping God after God brought him out of the world. He learned the world had nothing for him. It wasn't wasted time. Sometimes God will save you from yourself. Praise God. We need it. You will make some mistakes. If you make mistakes, go back to where you met with God. Last week I said that Bethel meant "House of God." Go back to where you worshipped Him, where you met with Him, where you communed with God.
Do not look to the World to meet your needs. You need to change your earthly mindset. Do not run to the World when things get tough. Run to God. He wants to help you, comfort you and bring you to a higher level in Himself.
Abraham's Separation from Lot
Abram and Lot Separate 5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
James 1: 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
You cannot walk by faith and walk by the flesh at the same time. You will not receive anything from God if you do.
Verse 6: The land could not support both of them. Everything was fine when both Lot and Abraham were prospering. When circumstances got hard, when push came to shove, Abram had to choose either to walk by faith or walk by the flesh. He could not do both. Some Christians are only along for what God can give them. They want to be blessed and filled but don't want to give anything back.
Lot = A worldly Church Lot = Christians who look right, act right, do right and still have a lust for sodom in their heart. Buried in their heart is a lust for the world they left. These people tend to be self-righteous. They do all the right things, say all the right things but their heart for doing it is wrong. They do them for what they can get out of God. And once they stop getting what they want out of God, they run to what they really desire. They become Christians who walk after the flesh. Faith goes beyond the Flesh… Faith exists in the supernatural.
God's primary concern in your life is not that you stop sinning. It's that you know Him. I wrestled a long time with God about why I wasn't perfect. It bothered me that I sinned even though I had been a christian my whole life. But what it boiled down to, was that in my mind, if I achieved perfection, I wouldn't need God anymore. I wouldn't have to talk to him, I could just do my own thing. That should not be our motivation to not sin. God wants us to talk to him… to commune with him… to love him. He wants you to love each other. That is what he wants you to pursue. And out of that pursuit, guess what? You'll stop sinning. If you are a christian, God has already made you perfect. That's a whole other sermon but I just wanted you to know that.
Let's move on.
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east.
Lot looked with his own eyes… his natural eyes. And decided to move back east. East is where Ai was. He went back to where he came from. He went back to a heap of ruins. He went back toward Ur. His heart was with the moon worshippers and that's where he went.
The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.
Lot decided to live near Sodom. Because he liked what was going on in Sodom. Sodom was an ungodly city. Some believers desire to live like those in the world because it's a world that they can see with their eyes and a world that caters to their lusts.
14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.
God told Abram to look around. Abram did not look around with his own eyes like Lot did but looked around when directed by God. He let God define what He saw.
15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[a] forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
This is the revelation! Not only did Abram get what was in the west… God gave him everything in all directions, including the east which Lot had taken for himself. If you surrender and give yourself to God, God gives you everything.
18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.
This is the greater dimension of worship!
Like I said last week this doesn't happen overnight. Becoming a man or woman of faith takes a long time. It's a process. It took Abraham 25 years to get through these separations. And there's still 3 left.
Have you separated from doing things the way the world does them? Only believing in what you can see. Only living for God for what He can give you instead of loving Him for what He's already done for you? Have you separated yourself from the desires of this world?
Have you separated yourself from thinking you can live the life God has for your on your own strength… on your own righteousness? God does want to give you everything… but not because of who you are… but because of who He is. Will you obey Him? Will you walk in Faith? Will you trust Him?
These 7 separations each Christian must go through in order to be mature… to be who God wants us to be.
We went over the first two separations of Abraham so far. Separation from your Country… separating yourself from you comfort zones, the boundary lines you are familiar with and anything that may be limiting your relationship with God.
The second separation was separation from your Family. Sometimes our natural families or our spiritual families can try to limit what God is doing in us. We have to be willing to put God first in these situations. You cannot love your family more than you love God and expect to do anything great in the Kingdom of God.
But like last week the main point I want you to get if you don't get anything else is "Separation leads to revelation which leads to a greater dimension of worship."
This brings us to our 3rd separation. The separation from Egypt.
1) When things are going rough in your life, what are the things you turn to for comfort?
2) When it comes to making decisions are you a planner or do you do things on instinct? Are you strictly objective or impulsive? Why or why not?
Separation from Egypt
Abram in Egypt
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” 14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. 17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
God intervened for a liar. In case you were wondering if Abraham had it all together after the first two separations, he most assuredly did not. Abraham still didn't have a ton of faith. Verse 10 states that there was a great famine. When times got rough Abraham went to Egypt, which represents worldly things or systems. We do stupid things when we are afraid. When times get rough in our own life, it can lead to seeking comfort in the things of this world. Some of you may turn to food when things get rough. Some may turn to porn. Some may turn to shopping or watching tv. Egypt represents things of this world we run to when things get bad. You know the great thing about this separation? God made the separation for him. God is faithful. And He will get you where He wants you to go. Abraham failed in his own strength and God came and rescued him. But guess what? God didn't reveal anything new to Abraham. Abraham's obedience and faith in God is what enabled God to show Abraham His visions… His will… His purpose.
Romans 12:2 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
So what did Abraham do? 13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. 3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Rev 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Abram went back and did what he did before. Back to worshipping God after God brought him out of the world. He learned the world had nothing for him. It wasn't wasted time. Sometimes God will save you from yourself. Praise God. We need it. You will make some mistakes. If you make mistakes, go back to where you met with God. Last week I said that Bethel meant "House of God." Go back to where you worshipped Him, where you met with Him, where you communed with God.
Do not look to the World to meet your needs. You need to change your earthly mindset. Do not run to the World when things get tough. Run to God. He wants to help you, comfort you and bring you to a higher level in Himself.
Abraham's Separation from Lot
Abram and Lot Separate 5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
James 1: 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
You cannot walk by faith and walk by the flesh at the same time. You will not receive anything from God if you do.
Verse 6: The land could not support both of them. Everything was fine when both Lot and Abraham were prospering. When circumstances got hard, when push came to shove, Abram had to choose either to walk by faith or walk by the flesh. He could not do both. Some Christians are only along for what God can give them. They want to be blessed and filled but don't want to give anything back.
Lot = A worldly Church Lot = Christians who look right, act right, do right and still have a lust for sodom in their heart. Buried in their heart is a lust for the world they left. These people tend to be self-righteous. They do all the right things, say all the right things but their heart for doing it is wrong. They do them for what they can get out of God. And once they stop getting what they want out of God, they run to what they really desire. They become Christians who walk after the flesh. Faith goes beyond the Flesh… Faith exists in the supernatural.
God's primary concern in your life is not that you stop sinning. It's that you know Him. I wrestled a long time with God about why I wasn't perfect. It bothered me that I sinned even though I had been a christian my whole life. But what it boiled down to, was that in my mind, if I achieved perfection, I wouldn't need God anymore. I wouldn't have to talk to him, I could just do my own thing. That should not be our motivation to not sin. God wants us to talk to him… to commune with him… to love him. He wants you to love each other. That is what he wants you to pursue. And out of that pursuit, guess what? You'll stop sinning. If you are a christian, God has already made you perfect. That's a whole other sermon but I just wanted you to know that.
Let's move on.
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east.
Lot looked with his own eyes… his natural eyes. And decided to move back east. East is where Ai was. He went back to where he came from. He went back to a heap of ruins. He went back toward Ur. His heart was with the moon worshippers and that's where he went.
The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.
Lot decided to live near Sodom. Because he liked what was going on in Sodom. Sodom was an ungodly city. Some believers desire to live like those in the world because it's a world that they can see with their eyes and a world that caters to their lusts.
14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.
God told Abram to look around. Abram did not look around with his own eyes like Lot did but looked around when directed by God. He let God define what He saw.
15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[a] forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
This is the revelation! Not only did Abram get what was in the west… God gave him everything in all directions, including the east which Lot had taken for himself. If you surrender and give yourself to God, God gives you everything.
18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.
This is the greater dimension of worship!
Like I said last week this doesn't happen overnight. Becoming a man or woman of faith takes a long time. It's a process. It took Abraham 25 years to get through these separations. And there's still 3 left.
Have you separated from doing things the way the world does them? Only believing in what you can see. Only living for God for what He can give you instead of loving Him for what He's already done for you? Have you separated yourself from the desires of this world?
Have you separated yourself from thinking you can live the life God has for your on your own strength… on your own righteousness? God does want to give you everything… but not because of who you are… but because of who He is. Will you obey Him? Will you walk in Faith? Will you trust Him?
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