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ABRAHAM’S LIFE WAS ONE LONG SPIRITUAL JOURNEY. HE MOVED FROM:
1. FAITH TO RISK. He left his home in Ur of the Chaldees to a land that was unknown to him. Read Genesis 12:1-5 He left the comfort of the his father’s trade and lived a different life. (ABRAM'S FATHER WAS AN IDOLATER, cf. JOSHUA 24: 2-3)
GENESIS 12: 1-12, Abraham surrendered his life in his homeland to go to a strange land. He left the secure environment of his father’s trade to become a wanderer among strangers in a land he would never own.
GENESIS 13:8-9, Abraham surrenders his right as elder to keep peace with Lot.
2. FAITH TO TRUST. Genesis 17:1-27
3. FAITH TO SURRENDER. Genesis 22/cf. Hebrews 11:19.
"Abraham's spiritual journey, like our own, was marred by failures. Genesis 12:10-20 and 20:1-18 tell us that Abraham lied to protect himself, fearing he would be killed for his beautiful wife Sarah, who was also his half-sister or niece. Twice he begged Sarah to lie for him. Abraham thought 'surely there is no fear of God in this place' (Genesis 20:11). In this Abraham failed to realize that, whether or not the people feared the Lord, God was present. Abraham was with faith when God spoke to him, but when God was silent his faith faltered." But, the longer he lived, the more his faith grew in God and the more his doubt dissolved away.
GENESIS 22:3, His life was one of sacrifice without delay and without argument.
GENESIS 24:7, He had no expectations of his own, but expected God to work in and through circumstances to keep His promise.
Abraham struggled successfully with doubt. He found comfort in prayer. He met life's challenges with conviction that God's word is trustworthy, to be believed and obeyed. He met every journey with sacrifice and trusted not in himself.
GENESIS 26: 3-5, ABRAHAM WAS BLESSED BECAUSE HE 0BEYED "MY" - VOICE, CHARGE, COMMANDMENTS, STATUTES, LAWS.
He is the father of the Jews and became a comfort for all. cf. Luke 16:19-31; (read 4 Maccabees 13:17)
OBSERVATIONS: OBEDIENCE TO GOD RELEASES POWER INTO OUR LIFE. OBSERVE WHAT IT DID FOR ABRAHAM. CONSIDER WHAT IT CAN DO FOR US.
CONTRAST TWO MEN, ONE WHO THROUGH OBEDIENCE WAS GIVEN AN ETERNAL PROMISE (ABRAHAM), THE OTHER WHO BECAUSE OF DISOBEDIENCE WAS DENIED A SIMILAR PROMISE (SAUL, cf. 1 SAMUEL 13: 13-14).
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