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?