The Walk of Faith

So today, as we start this four-week series on faith, if you're here this morning, does everyone have a handout?

Everybody have a worship guide?

Alright.

Anyone does it?

Alright, because I'm telling you, these next four weeks, the truth that we're going to understand.

In fact, I don't know about you, but the series we just finished on what happens when your world falls apart has been so helpful for our church.

And every the response has just been great.

Be praying for Roy.

I got a phone call for your daddy, tried to get you.

He had a major uh chemo yesterday, and it kind of hit him pretty hard.

He's okay.

But starting this week, uh they're gonna really, I guess, kill basically his whole immune system.

Tuesday, double radiation.

Whole body.

Guys, that's double.

And then Wednesday's the transplant, bone marrow transplant.

Right now's the most crucial time.

You understand that.

I mean, people die right here during this period.

So would you please lift up Roy Burrs?

And uh he's unbelievable.

You he uh your dad started crying a little bit, but he said Roy's just taking it like a true.

I said, Roy is walking by faith.

There's a living example right now.

I mean, he he knows he could die any day.

And he's just as confident and praising the Lord.

That's the way it's supposed to be, folks.

That's the way it's supposed to be.

Life is a school of faith for the Christian.

Once you are born again, you enter the school of faith.

I was thinking about that.

The school of faith.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 12, and we'll be looking at Genesis 12 and chapter 13 today on the walk of faith.

You, the moment you said, Lord, come into my heart and save me, you entered into the school of faith.

And you know what?

When you go to chapter 11, you see the Hall of Fame of faith.

You have all the professors of the school of faith in Hebrews 11.

All the professors are there.

And then we have the dean of the school of faith.

And his name's Abraham.

He's the dean, he's the one leading the pack.

And then we see the Bible literally says that we are to live by faith.

Romans 1.17 says the just shall live by faith.

And then the Bible says we're saved by faith.

Romans 5.1.

Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.

And then the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5.7 that we are to walk by faith and not by sight.

So, how do we do that?

When we enter into the school of faith, well, first of all, I really believe that life itself is our classroom, the Bible is our textbook, and guess what?

When we enter into that school of faith, every time you enter into a situation, especially, how many of you uh went to college or high school?

It doesn't matter, but but you went to school.

You know what I loved about school?

Recess.

And the cheerleaders.

Amen.

Amen for the cheerleaders.

But hey, but do you know the one part I didn't like about school?

Test.

I hate test.

But guess what?

You gotta have them because test exposes what you know and what you don't know.

Amen.

French, that's right.

I meant, it really does.

And guess what?

In the life and in the school of faith, it's the same thing.

And by the way, you don't start taking test from God until you enter into the school of faith.

So you got to be saved to enter into the school of faith.

Can I get an amen?

But once you enter into the school of faith, the test will begin.

And let me remind you that tests are very important because tests reveal to you and to God where your faith is.

How much faith you have, how much little faith you have.

And faith, now watch this, this is good.

Faith has to be tested before it can be trusted.

You might want to write that down.

That's powerful.

Faith has to be tested before it can be trusted.

That's very important.

So, a lot of these circumstances and situations that you and I are walking through right now as a church together with all the folks that have cancer and other situations, relatives, Jenny.

I was asking French about Jenny, and just there's royal.

I mean, it's unreal, really, how much we've seen Satan attacking, and I just believe that's what it is.

Because Satan wants to do everything he can to keep us, hey, from walking by faith.

So with that said, we come to this powerful passage of scripture.

And Abraham believed God.

And when you go back, and I don't have time, and I may go back and preach Hebrews 11 as we look at the professors of the school of faith.

But Abraham, there's four things in that whole thing that make him the dean that show him why he was the dean.

First of all, he believed God.

Abraham believed God when he didn't know where to go.

He believed in that we see in verses 8 through 10 in chapter 11.

And then he believed God when he didn't know how, when he was supposed to have a child at age almost 100 and Sarah 90.

He didn't know how that was going to happen, but he still believed God.

And then God reveals all these promises, God reveals all this future.

He talks about a home not here on the earth.

So he believes God then, when he didn't even know when these were going to happen.

In fact, all of them didn't happen while they were still living.

But they believed God when he didn't know how, when he didn't know where, when he didn't know why.

And the part when verses 17 and 18, he didn't know why God had just offered, I meant told him to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice after God had promised him that he was going to make a great nation through Isaac's seed and his seed.

So this is a man that understood Hebrews 11:1.

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Literally.

So with that said, when we come to the life of Abraham in these chapters, I really believe that the man of faith listens to the voice of God.

And when he listens to the voice of God, he sees the glory of God.

And also we see that, hey, he sees the power and the presence of God.

So I want you to look at verses 1 through 4 in chapter 12.

And I want us to look at the first thing.

Because in chapters 12 and 13 of Genesis, Abraham shows us the walk of faith.

And there's five ministries of the walk of faith that we're going to look at this morning.

Five ministries.

Number one, faith brings us out.

Look at verses 1 through 4.

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of the country and from the kindred and from the father's house unto a land that I will show thee.

And I will alike of thee a great nation.

And I will bless thee, and I will make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.

And I will bless them that bless you, and curse them that curse you, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

So Abraham departed.

As the Lord has spoken unto him, and Lot went with him, and Abram was 75 years old when he departed out of Haran.

So look right here.

This is awesome.

Abraham was 75, right here, when he's called.

Now watch this.

Abraham died at 175.

So he literally walked in faith and was enrolled in the school of faith for a hundred years.

Folks, growing and walking by faith takes time.

It's not like your phone and your computer, you and it pops up.

Oh, I'm gonna have faith.

Oh, I got faith next.

No.

And I know what you're thinking.

Well, how long will my this school of faith last for me?

Well, probably not a hundred years.

But as long as you and I are living as, hey, people on this earth as Christians, we will be in the school of faith.

Every day is a classroom for the school of faith in our lives.

Can I get an amen?

Every day.

Every day.

We have to believe God.

We have to trust God.

It takes a while to learn faith.

It really does.

Faith brings us out of where we are into God's will and God's blessings.

Now that's good.

When he's talking about bringing us out, when he brought him out of Ur and brought him into Canaan, that was his purpose.

He was bringing him out of that life of sin, that life of debauchery, that life of destruction.

He was bringing him out so that he could bring him in to a relationship with him.

And when we see when Abraham here, when he takes him out, oh I love it.

Faith brings us out from where we are into God's will and blessings.

And how does this happen?

Well, we see in verses 1 through 4, two things.

First of all, we see the statement of faith.

Notice what brought Abraham out of his previous situation in life and circumstances and life that was what?

Lost.

What brought him out?

He heard, now watch this, the voice of God.

And the Lord said unto Abram, get out.

And he listened.

I call it the statement of faith if you're filling in your little outline.

It's the statement of faith.

We've got to believe in God's word and what God says and not our feelings and not our emotions.

Can I get an amen?

It's not what you feel.

I'm going to tell you, some of you woke up this morning, and if you were, hey, if if your salvation depended on your feelings, you'd feel lost.

Or you may have awakened this morning and you've gone through stuff and Satan's got your emotions doing like this.

And so if you were depending on your emotions to give you confidence and courage of your salvation, you'd be in a mess.

You'd think you're lost.

You don't know what's going on.

Well, where do I turn?

So it listen, I don't care what's going on in your life, where you are feelings wise, where you are emotionally wise, listen to me.

It's not those principles that matter.

It's God's word and his principles that matter.

And don't ever forget that.

Because Satan will try to derail you through your emotions and through your circumstances.

Every time.

And he's pretty good at it, and you're going to see that in a little bit with Abraham.

He's pretty actually excellent at it.

Faith is not based on emotions or feelings, even though, by the way, they are certainly involved.

I agree.

I'm with you.

I'm not an emotional person.

Excuse me.

Oh my soul.

One thing about Pastor Danny, you know where I am emotionally.

I don't hide.

I can't hide anything.

That's my problem.

I should hide sometimes, I guess.

But what you see is what you get.

But but once I've learned something here is that Satan wants to get me so emotionally upset that I get out of control.

And when I'm out of control, I can't make a wise decision.

Hello?

Think about that.

When your feelings are feeling bad, when you're emotionally upset and you don't feel good, that's not the time to make a decision.

Can I get an amen?

And Satan's master.

He's a master at it.

But it's the word of God, the statement of faith.

Faith cometh by hearing and what?

Hearing by what?

You got it.

Romans 10, 17.

And then notice the second thing here is the step of faith in your little outline.

Under faith brings us out.

The step of faith by Abraham in verse 4.

Here we see the characteristics of a man walking by faith.

First of all, letter A, he had ears to hear.

He heard the voice of God.

Look at verse 4.

So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him.

He had ears to hear.

Jesus said in Matthew 13, 9, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

He went on to say, Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear.

Matthew 13, 16.

Very important you understand that.

And then Proverbs 18, 15 says, the ear of the wise, the ear of the wise seeks knowledge, the knowledge of God.

For we grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3.18.

So God is very clear.

Now listen to me.

This is important.

God is very clear in telling us His will for our life.

A lot of people say, I just don't understand what God's will is for my life.

Well, one of two things is wrong.

One, you're not listening.

Hello?

Or two, you're listening, but you just don't want to do it.

Because the Lord is very clear in making his will known to you.

How do you know that?

Listen to what he says, Jesus himself in John 7, 17.

If any man will do my will, he shall know my doctrine.

He shall know my teachings.

So in other words, he says, You're going to know my will by my doctrine.

You're going to know my will by listening to me, and not just listening, but obeying.

Can I get an amen?

So he's not going to confuse you about the will.

Now let me show you some.

Ooh, this is so good.

Abraham, when he was told God's will, now watch this, did not receive any explanation from God.

Hmm.

He gave him promises.

If you look at verse 3, I will bless you, I will make you a great nation.

I will bless, hey, your family and the other nations.

I will, I will.

He gave him promises, but he didn't give him an explanation.

Now, isn't it amazing how we want an explanation?

Okay, Lord, you want me to do that.

Why?

Why is it that we always want to know why?

I do.

I always ask this purpose when we're even with our staff or whatever we're doing around here, what's the purpose?

Now, when I say that, that sounds educationally pretty smart, and being my doctorate, part of my doctorate in leadership, strategic.

Mine's not strategic planning, hers is, but mine was in developing leaders.

But so, but so you always have to have a purpose to do something.

If you have no purpose, why are you doing it?

Well, I just like do something.

Well, just go do something.

What'd you accomplish?

I don't know.

But I did something.

Well, what'd you do?

I don't know.

So, most of the time when God asks me to do something, you know what I want?

I want an answer of what's the purpose?

Because I've been educated and geared that way all these years.

All right, Lord, what's the purpose?

Notice Abraham didn't ask why.

Notice, he didn't even ask where.

He didn't ask how.

He just obeyed.

He believed the promises of God.

He believed that if he was obedient to God, that God would bless him.

Three times he says, I will bless you, I will bless you, I will bless you.

There hath not failed one word of all of God's good promises.

1 Kings 8.56.

Can I get an amen?

All the promises of God in the New Testament are yea, an amen.

So look at this.

No explanation whatsoever.

Our problem, here's our problem.

It's not hearing God's voice.

Our problem is wanting to know why.

The world says, show me and I'll believe.

God says, believe, and I'll show you.

Big difference.

Amen.

So here we see God said, get out and I will bless you.

And he did.

Oh, did he?

Example.

Me leaving to go to Lynchburg years ago for the ministry.

I had not a clue.

I didn't even, all I knew was where Lynchburg was, and I didn't even know where Lynchburg was until I looked it up on the map.

I'd seen Dr.

Jerry Falwell on TV talking about this beautiful school and how he wanted to train men and women for the ministry.

And God spoke to me right there.

I was sitting there at the fire department because I was a policeman and fireman at the time, and that day I was pulling 24 hours at the downtown fire department in Albany, Georgia, and he said, Go.

And I said, right then the Holy Spirit said, Go.

I went home, told Becky, my first wife that's now in heaven.

I said, We gotta go, we gotta go.

And she said, Yes, we gotta go, because I'd been running from God for two years, and we had been on the verge of divorce twice.

And I said, if we don't leave now, every I'm through, you're we're through, we gotta go.

Said, let's go.

We packed up, and within 24 hours, we were in a U-Haul trailer with a little Volkswagen, heading to Lynchburg with no place to stay, no job, nothing but the clothes we had on and the stuff we had in the U-Haul truck.

That was it.

People thought I'd lost my mind.

Probably had.

Got there and within two days, not only did we have a place to stay, Becky had a job and they had accepted every one of my credits.

I didn't lose one credit in two days.

And you know what?

We got an apartment.

We were willing to live in a dump.

Brand new government apartments just built.

Some of the students were already living in there and they'd told us to go over here and look.

I went.

Becky went with one of the students' wives to check on a job at the bank.

She was a bank teller.

She went there.

I went there and I told the lady, I said, ma'am, we don't have a place to stay.

She said, Well, I got one apartment left.

I said, I'll take it.

She said, You don't want to see it?

I said, doesn't matter.

When you don't have a place, you'll take it.

Don't.

Oh, well, let me look at it.

Well, bless God, just stay in the back of the trunk.

Hello?

Beggars can't be juicy.

That's like you're hungry and you somebody will offer you something.

You say, Well, what's that?

Doesn't matter, eat it.

Hello?

I'm sitting there and she said, Well, let me go show you the department.

I said, Go show it to me.

Doesn't matter, I'm in.

And we get brand new two bedrooms, one bath.

I said, take it.

We come back, she sits down, she says, Do you have a job?

I went, no.

She says, Does your wife have a job?

I said, Oh no.

I said, Uh-oh, there went my apartment.

She's now what here's what she said.

That's good.

I said, that's good?

That I don't have a job?

My wife didn't have it.

Yeah, that's good.

We're gonna help you.

That's why we're here.

I said, okay.

So I said on a little calculator.

She said, okay.

Here's what we're gonna be able to do.

I said, okay.

She said,$35 a month.

What did you say?

She said,$35 a month.

I said, I'm only gonna have to pay$35 a month for that brand new apartment?

She says, no.

I said, I knew there was a catch.

She says, we're gonna pay you$35 a month.

Hello! I said, is this real?

She said she's just a smiling.

Yes.

By that time, Becky gets out, she runs in the apartment, I mean in the office, she said, honey, honey, I got a job.

I got a job.

I try.

I said, shh, shh.

My wife said I fail.

And she said, Mr.

Love, it's okay.

You've already signed the papers.

We don't re-evaluate for a year.

Folks, listen to me.

That's faith.

I didn't know.

All I knew I was going to Lynchburg.

I didn't know where Lynchburg was.

In fact, I didn't like the name Lynchburg.

Sound like you're going to be lynched.

But God.

But God.

Because I had eyes to see, but ears to hear.

Go.

Go.

Go.

Brings me to the next point.

Not only a man of faith, when he brings us out, has ears to hear, but he has eyes to see.

He has eyes to see God's glory.

Whew! Look at it.

In Acts chapter 7, it says about Abraham, his eyes saw the glory of God.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

In Hebrews 11, he saw a city whose maker was God.

And Abraham here in chapter 13, verse 14, and the Lord said unto Abraham after the lot was separated from him, Lift up now thy eyes and look.

He had eyes of faith.

Abraham saw the intangible when others saw the tangible.

He saw beyond his country, his family, his father.

Just like at Open Door Baptist Church when I saw that building on the 14 acres of land next to us that we had to have.

Just like when David and I saw, when I told David, I said, God's going to give us.

God's going to give us this land, and I believe he's going to let us have it for half a million dollars.

David said, You don't understand.

They offered that for a million too.

And now I think he's asking eight or nine hundred thousand.

There's only 50 or 60 of us.

That can't happen.

I said, He's going to do it.

I just, I, I just, I see it, David.

I see it.

Just like I saw it in open door.

I told him that and he remembered all that.

I said, it's, it's, it's going to happen.

And I'll never forget that morning the owner of the land called me up and said, Pastor, I need to talk to you.

In fact, I'd about come to the notion, okay, can you sell me five or ten acres right here behind SERPO so we could keep everything here and use this facility?

I said, could you do it?

He said, Yeah, but God wouldn't let me sleep last night.

And then I said, Uh-oh, amen.

Amen.

I'd already asked him about two weeks before in the restaurant at Hartley's that I said, God woke me up and told me you ought to give me that land.

And he looked at me and said, Well, he hadn't woken me up and told me that.

I laughed, he laughed.

But this time he called me.

He said, Meet me over there.

God wouldn't let me sleep last night.

I knew.

Long story short, man, I could this is so good.

And he met me here.

He said, Okay, I got I got this five or ten acres right by back here that'll connect with the all that.

He said, but that's my main part of my land because 35 acres is buildable and the others uh wetlands, but wetlands doesn't mean all it means you just can't build any major structures on it, but it but that's another story.

But I said, he said, but I I can I can sell you those those five or eight acres for about$200,000, but he said, I got a better deal than that.

I said, I'm listening.

He said, why don't I sell you the whole 90 acres?

And I'll tell you what I do.

You give me$250,000, because I told him I thought we could come up with that.

We had helped David and I'd figured out about what we could do and uh with what everything.

But uh he said, you give me$250,000, and I'll tell you what I do.

I'll finance the other$250,000 and I'll sell you the whole 90 acres for a half a million dollars.

Whoa! Yes.

Folks, I saw it.

I saw it.

We had been looking for land for over a year all around here, but then God said, This is it?

Did I know how?

No.

I tried to figure it out, that didn't work.

Did I know when?

No.

But long story short, God gave a$100,000 donation, a$50,000 donation, what the church had saved.

Are you really?

We came up with$300,000 to give to him.

And we had to finance the rest of it for just a few three years at a low rate.

Hello! And it's paid off.

Guess what?

I was out there yesterday Friday.

There's a big footer.

Or a big building out there.

And I see it.

I see the building built.

I see it packed with people.

I see it.

You say, Well, I don't see it.

I don't, well, open your eyes.

Ask God to give you the eyes of faith.

Folks, do you realize this small little church right here in Westover?

What?

Oh, we just have received over five hundred thousand plus dollars of free dirt.

I know you're looking at me crazy.

But they still don't have to pay for dirt, still we don't have to.

We don't pay it for dirt.

We don't pay it for dirt.

We play the dirt.

I don't forget that.

Little bit came in and said, He wants to see you.

Now this guy, I said, oh no, he's heard we circle the land.

He's gonna kill me.

Now don't laugh.

He had killed somebody before.

Mr.

Simpson.

I came to Mr.

Simpson, I ran over there.

In fact, I asked Stephen Hooks, our youth pastor, I said, go with me.

He said, I ain't going.

I asked Joe Tubbs my ministry music, go with me, I ain't going.

So I walked out, I said, tell Susan all over.

I walked there, he's standing at the door in his little house.

You wouldn't ever think he was a millionaire.

Little house, country house.

He's standing at the door, he opens the door, he said, Preacher, come in.

I said, Yes, sir.

Walked in, said, sit down.

He said, called his wife, woman, get him some coffee and a piece of pie.

I thought to myself, that's not a bad last supper, Ave.

Amen.

Coffee and a piece of pie.

I knew he had heard about it.

I knew he had heard about it.

Circle in the line.

He said, I want to talk to you about that land.

And he had already told me he wasn't going to sell it to the church.

But see, his little granddaughter had enrolled in Christie's kindergarten, and we were all praying every day, God give us that land, and the little girl would go home crying, saying, Whoever owns that land, she didn't know that he owned that land.

But hey, whoever owns that land properly, we need to help the church get that land so I can keep going to school there.

Three days in a row she said that.

Fourth day he calls me.

He says, Preacher, I want to sell you the land.

I said, not even thinking.

We'll take it.

And I said, uh oh.

How much?

$300,000.

That little girl didn't know what she was praying in.

$100,000 for my wife,$100,000 for my little grandbaby.

That's what he told me.

So I'll never forget.

I called Jack Wade.

Jack, we can buy that lamb for$300,000.

Now the lamb was worth a million or more.

Okay, you listening?

We'd been saving for four years, three, four, five.

We'll get long story short, he calls me back.

He said, actually, Clemmy calls me back.

And she said, Pastor Danny, Jack's in the bedroom having a spell.

Now you gotta realize Jack's the most calm, collective, cool.

He sat right back on the back, never said anything.

I'm up there, hallelujah, having spells, running around.

And he looked at me one day and he said, Pastor Danny, Miss Clemmy and I sit back there, and I know you, you're up there, y'all having spells.

People got saved every Sunday.

It was unreal.

He says, and you think we're dead, but back here our little hearts are going whoopee, whoopee, whoopee, whoopee.

So when I see you sitting there like a knot on the lot, I know your heart's going, whoopee, whoopee, whoopee.

I said, what is it, Miss Clemmy?

Jack got on the phone.

He said, Preacher, preacher, preacher, preacher, preacher.

Now this is Jack Wait.

So I'll wait, Brother Danny.

I said, What is it, Jack?

He says, we got three hundred thousand dollars and a dollar.

God never leaves you broke.

Folks, listen to me.

Eyes to see.

Amen.

Ears to hear.

And then number three.

Feet to obey.

Feet to obey.

Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus.

But to trust and obey.

Faith is not believing in spite of evidence.

Faith is obeying in spite of the circumstances that are outside and the feelings inside.

Just trust him.

Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, lean not on thy own understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.

Hallelujah.

Today I wonder how many of us need to be brought out of something.

Some kind of sin, some kind of circumstance, situation.

We need to be brought out of that negative influence and that destructive influences.

To be number two, majorly.

Not only does the ministry of faith, number one, bring us out, but the second ministry of faith, it brings us in.

Number two, it brings us in.

Write that down.

Faith brings us in, verses five through nine.

And Abraham took Sarah, his wife, and Lot, his brother, brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran.

And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan.

And into the land of Canaan they came.

And Abram passed through the land into the place of Shechem and the Morab.

And the Canaanites was then in the land.

That's the giants.

And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said unto thy seed will I give this land.

And there built he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him.

And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel.

Bethel means house of God, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar unto the Lord.

Oh, I love this.

Called upon the name of the Lord, worshipped him, and Abraham journeyed, going on still toward the south.

Wow.

Wow.

See, folks, there must not only be the negative separation from the things that hurt us and bring us down, the things that we're living in when we're lost and undone, but there has to be a positive relationship after that bringing out.

What happens, a lot of us just get brought out, but we never get brought in.

And when we don't get brought in, and what I mean by being brought in, to a relationship with God and a relationship with a dynamic church that helps disciple you, then guess what?

We become, and this is what a for some Christians, all they ever see is the going out.

For some Christians, it is the reviving door.

They go out, then they go back into that, they may drop back into that sin, then they're brought back out, or they're brought, they come out of a situation, but then they get back in it, back and forth, like a roller coaster.

And the reason they never develop that intimate relationship with an awesome Almighty God.

And this is what we see here.

But the good message is this that you can be brought into the right relationship that will last.

And here's the characteristics of a man that is in the relationship.

Watch this.

Verse 8, he has a tent.

A tent?

Yes.

Where he lives.

The Bible says Hebrews 11 13, strangers and pilgrims on earth.

1 Peter 2.11, dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust which war after the soul.

In other words, you can't get settled in.

You can't be settled.

You can't be comfortable.

You can't be content with this world.

Can I get an amen?

You can't.

What's happened in the church in America today?

What happened in the churches when you studied church history in England and the great Welsh revivals?

What happened after those great revivals?

They got content, they settled in, they got satisfied, and they just became dead.

Satan's a master at doing that.

Abraham never got content.

Never got satisfied.

He lived in a tent.

He never put his states too deep.

Because he knew he was going to be moving up one day.

This land's not my home.

Heaven is my home.

So don't dig your states too deep here.

You be ready to go when God tells you to go.

You be ready to move when God tells you to move.

Here we see the altar.

Not only did he have a tent, but B, he had an altar.

Verses seven and eight.

The tent shows the relationship with the world.

The tent is a signal that we're just passing through.

The world's not our home.

Can I get an amen?

And then when do you see him build an altar?

We see here the altar.

Oh, this is good.

The altar is our relationship with God.

That he is first.

Wherever Abraham went, he, hey, he put his tent down, but then he built an altar.

He wanted everybody around him and his family and those people to know that God was first in his life.

Can I get an amen?

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things should be added unto you.

Wherever you go, do people look at you and they know God's first in your life?

Everything you do, from church attendance to attitudes to testimonies, wherever you go, people ought to know that the Lord's foremost in your life.

That's why I can't go anywhere without my Jesus awesome.

I just can't do it.

And yet, let me tell you who that reminds me of.

Those are reminders to me.

Not I'm trying to show off and that I'm a super spiritual Christian.

But let me tell you, when I want to blow the horn at Sister Fluffyhead and I got Jesus' awesome on my wrist, that makes me think twice before I hit that horn.

Amen.

It works.

Pulled up behind the lady the other day and said, Hulk, if you love Jesus.

I started just sit down on the horn, but I thought to myself, she might scare death, she'd run through the red line.

But in my heart I was honking.

Yes.

Then not only does faith bring us out, then it brings us in.

Look at verse 10.

Faith number three brings us back.

Look at verse 10.

This is now here's where it gets really good.

Shows you reality.

And there was a famine in the land, and Abraham went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land.

Woo! Put a star by that verse.

Let me ask you a question.

Where was the famine?

In Canaan, the promised land where he was going to bring him.

To the land, well, maybe not the promised land, but the land that God said he wanted him to go, right?

So he gets there and look.

Now I know what you're thinking, boy.

When I get in the will of God, I get the blessings of God.

Whoopee! It's gonna be milk and honey.

Not always.

He gets to where God wanted him to be.

And look where it what happened.

There's a famine.

That's just not fair, Lord.

I left everything to serve you.

And now you've given me a famine.

I got cows, I got family, I got all these people I got to feed, and I have nothing.

Guess what?

It was test time.

Hello, you okay?

It was a test for him to leave.

Here's test number two.

Big test.

Are you really trusting me?

Now what I don't understand, God had already provided for him to get there.

So why is he going to stop now trusting God?

Let me tell you why.

I think.

Can't prove it biblically, but I can prove he quit trusting God because he went down to Egypt.

Egypt in the Bible stands for worldliness, stands for sin, stands for destruction to anything a Christian stands for.

That's what the word Egypt means.

Anywhere you see the word Egypt, you'll see you go down.

You go down.

Down, down, down.

So he goes to Egypt because it's flowing with milk and honey.

Isn't it amazing how Satan can dangle stuff?

So instead of trusting God, he decides he'll trust himself.

He figures it out.

In Egypt, there's there's the Nile rivers, there's the grain, just flowing.

Plenty for them.

So it goes down, and guess what happens?

Anytime you turn from the will and the blessing of God, you go down.

And when you go down, there's some things happen.

First of all, you look in the scriptures here in this passage, he got fearful.

When you're not walking in the will of God, you will become afraid.

You know why he became afraid?

Watch this.

Because Sarah was beautiful, gorgeous.

Now remember, Sarah's his half-sister.

Not full sister, half-sister.

So watch Abraham.

He says, Sarah, do you really love me?

Yes, you know I love you, honey.

Will you tell Pharaoh's court that you're my sister?

Now watch.

Abraham was justifying his lying.

Or let me rephrase that.

He was justifying his deceitfulness.

Because, guess what?

Sarah was his half sister.

He just didn't tell the whole truth.

Now, I know none of us are guilty of that.

Are we?

Satan's always, he's a master of telling the half truth.

So guess what?

That and okay.

Oh, next thing you know, whoo! Pharaoh, there's a good-looking woman here.

I mean, she's prettier in anything you got.

He said, Well, bring her to me.

And he did.

And then, next thing you know, he sees Sarah and Abraham sporting.

Well, but that's true.

But but somehow he figured that he wasn't her sister.

I figured they were sporting.

But anyway, he says, Abraham, come here.

What are you doing?

You're bringing in all these plagues on me.

That's your wife.

What are you doing?

What are you doing?

You lied to me.

Isn't it bad that the world has to tell the Christian that you're being deceitful?

Oh my goodness, what a testimony that is.

And you wonder why the church's doors aren't being packed out.

Well, when you have deceitfulness like that, what do you expect?

Then you know what happens.

Then he says, get out of here.

And guess what he does?

Are you ready for this?

Not only is Abraham fearful, he's deceitful, he's disloyal.

You say, What do you mean, disloyal?

He gave his wife up.

Hello.

That's not protecting your wife.

And then Pharaoh says, here, give them, give them more cows.

Give them this, this, gold, everything.

Get them out of here.

Bam.

Now watch this.

This is good.

Satan will always reward you for being disobedient to God.

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

Wow.

I've never seen that before.

Never seen it.

I mean, I've seen the principle, but I never thought of it that way.

Oh! He'll give you the position, he'll give you the power, he'll give you the money.

What does it do?

It destroys you.

But praise God.

Abraham didn't stay there.

Notice what happens next.

Faith will bring us through.

Faith will bring us through.

Faith brings us back.

And it brings us through.

Number four.

Now watch this.

When you go on and read, you go to chapter 13, verse 1 and verse 2, verse 3.

And look at what happens.

And Abraham went up out of Egypt.

Watch this.

God brings us back.

God got his attention.

Abraham repents.

Let me tell you true repentance.

When you know a person truly repents, they go back to God.

They go back to where they were with God where they left.

That's good.

Listen to me.

Watch right here.

What did he do?

And Abraham went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that had, and lot with him unto the south.

Now watch.

And Abraham was very rich in cattle and silver and gold.

I guess so, because he had just had more given.

He had a pretty good setup himself.

Now he's doubled or tripled what he had before he went down to Egypt.

And then he says, Watch this, and he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, back to the house of God, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first, and there Abraham called on the name of the Lord.

Wow.

He remembered where he was when he was walking with God when God called him out of Ur and led him all the way to Canaan and where he was there and he was worshiping God for being there.

He had built an altar.

But then he got sidetracked.

He quit trusting God and started trusting himself and went to Egypt.

Almost cost him his, hey, let me tell you what it almost cost him.

Almost cost him his wife, his family, and his life.

Because Pharaoh would have killed.

It's a wonder Pharaoh didn't kill him, only by God's grace.

Wow, that's good.

Faith will bring us through.

He repented, turned from his sin and left it.

He that covers his sin shall not prosper, but whosoever covers it shall, hey, hey, whoever covers his sin shall not prosper, but whosoever confesses it shall have mercy.

Proverbs 28, 13.

And then he returned, he repented, then he returned to the house of God.

And then, that's verse 3, and then verse 4 and 5, he rekindled his altar, he rebuilt his relationship with God.

But now let me say this.

I want you to pause a minute.

We'll be through here in a few minutes.

Even though when we blow it and we ask for forgiveness, God forgives.

Can I get an amen?

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to what?

Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1.9.

We believe that.

I believe that.

Thank God for that.

How many times have I had to do that?

But now listen to me, please.

There's still consequences of your wrongdoing.

You with me?

Remember a man named Abraham brought his nephew Lot with him.

He took him down to Egypt.

Lot watched his uncle on everything he did.

He watched him be deceitful.

He watched him try to deceive the Pharaoh.

He saw the reward of this deceitfulness, doubled their cattle, the gold, everything.

And now, when Abraham repents, comes back, and watch this.

Lot comes back, there's strife in the camp now.

You look at verse 7, there's strife.

There's not enough land to feed all this unbelievable caravan.

Strife.

But Abraham being the godly man he is now, after repenting, and that he was before, but he got in the flesh for a while.

We all do it.

He repented.

So he turns and he says, nephew, I love you.

I'm not gonna fight with you.

You choose.

You choose where you want to go.

You choose the left, I'll go right.

You choose the right, I'll go left.

You know what Lot did?

He chose the water plains.

He chose the fruitful, the honey land.

Where do you think he got that notion?

Remember what Abram did?

Abraham did?

Instead of staying in the famine land, he went to where the good soil and the good water and all that was.

So he was just actually doing what he had learned from his uncle.

Now listen to me.

What we do in front of the people we love is major.

With your kids, with your wife, with your husband.

Because there will be consequences.

And they don't listen to what you say, they watch what you do.

I beg you.

I beg us, me, me included.

I want to be the greatest testimony I can be.

I don't want to get in the flesh and make mistakes that I that I know are gonna affect my loved ones.

And they will.

See, Abraham got Lot out of Egypt, but he never got Egypt out of Lot.

Lot learned about Egypt from Abraham.

O me, can we all say O me?

So what we teach our kids, what we make a priority in front of our kids, is major.

Because that's what they learn.

And let me finish the last point.

Faith brings us back, faith will bring us through, and then number five, the fifth ministry.

Faith will bring us on.

Oh, Abraham let God choose for him.

And you know the story here.

God just gives him the best of the best of the best of the best of the best.

He let Lot make the choice, he let God choose for him.

I want to, every head bow, every eye close.

I want you to just listen to as I recap.

The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings.

Aren't you glad for that?

Can I get an amen?

I heard a, I was reading it, I study all when I'm studying to prepare for these messages.

I was reading an article, and one teenager said, Daddy, I know what the Christian life is all about.

Dad said, Well, what is it, son?

He was a teenager.

They've been doing a Bible study.

He said, The Christian life is falling down and getting back up.

How true that is.

Proverbs 24, 16, the righteous fall seven times and they get back up.

Amen.

Isn't that good?

So it's a series of new beginnings.

Faith brings us out.

Listen to me.

Are you any place you shouldn't be this morning?

Are you any place you shouldn't be this morning?

I'm asking to let God bring you out of it.

I don't care where.

Is it anger?

Is it drugs?

Is it alcohol?

Is it relationships?

Is it I don't know.

I don't know what it is.

You know what it is.

You know if you need to be brought out.

If it's bringing destructiveness to you, you need to be brought out.

Secondly, faith brings us in.

Have you been brought into that fullness of God, that perfect will of God?

I love what he says in Psalms 138, verse 8.

Psalms 138:8

God will perfect that which concerns me.

He will put us in the perfect will that he has for our life and then bless us unbelievably.

Isn't that good?

And then faith, third ministry, will bring us back.

Have you been restored?

Have you been revived in your relationship with him?

Do you need to come back to the Lord?

Are you cold?

Are you bitter?

You know you're saved, but you you just don't have that first love.

You don't have that fire.

You want to be renewed.

And then faith brings us through.

We can be victorious in our walk.

Thanks be unto God for his victorious grace.

And then number five, faith brings us on.

We can keep on walking and walking in obedience to him.

Ephesians 5 8 says, We were once in darkness, but now we're light, and the Lord walk as children of God.

Amen.

Harold Wilco gave me that picture.

Little boy walking in the light.

Thinking about him this week.

Here's a little court, church.

Faith in God can move a mighty mountain.

Faith in God can calm the sea.

Faith can make a desert bloom like a fountain.

Faith can give us victory.

Let me ask you this morning are you walking in that victory?

Are you walking by faith?