The Walk of Faith

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 11.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 11.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

Now, if you do not have a worship guide, raise your hand.

We want to make sure everybody has a worship guide.

We have some right here.

Bob, thank you.

Keep them up.

Now, and also for all of our members and our regular attenders, we would also make sure, Tabas said, please tell them, please, uh, to uh make sure they fill in our, we call it our attendance record, but more than that, it's our uh prayer request little uh tab too.

So we want to pray for you every Wednesday night.

It has been great on Wednesday night.

We've been dividing up into groups of three and four and literally praying over every one of our prayer requests.

It has been such a joy.

Uh, it really has with the young people together.

We're all praying together, then we break up into our small groups.

But it has been awesome.

But and by the way, for our members and regular tenders, if you don't have a prayer request, don't, you know how to fill it, don't, don't take, you know, I'm not, I don't want you to fill out your address and all that.

We got it.

Just put your name on there so we'll know that you're here because we uh and put it in the offering plate for us.

But hopefully, if you do have a prayer request, please put it on the back of that little peripheral uh information sheet.

Well, can God trust us as been a new year theme?

And we went through in January what we call the stewardship test, part one and part two.

We ended with that.

And at the beginning we said, can God trust us?

Or actually we started out with the first message was can we trust God?

And then secondly, could God trust us?

And then we took the test, part one and part two, to see if, you know, where we were standing with our walk with God.

And every many of you have told me how God has used that to change your life.

Many of you have started tithing for the first time, and I'm telling you, three months from now, you're gonna be able to give me testimonies of what God is doing in your life.

Or some of you started giving regularly that had not been.

You're gonna, in three months, tell me what God's doing.

I'm telling you, it works.

It works.

But in order for God, in that part two of the uh trust test, we said we got to learn to walk by faith.

And in Genesis chapter 11, we're gonna look at the dean of faith.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

In fact, let me put it this way: we're gonna enroll this month in the school of faith.

In fact, let me say this: if you've already been saved and you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are now enrolled in the school of faith.

And let me tell you what the school of faith is.

The school of faith is everyday life.

If you are walking by faith, hey, every day in your adventure, in your calling for God, you are in the school of faith.

Because not only are we saved by faith, we walk by faith.

Can I get an amen?

And a lot of people don't understand that.

So this is gonna be an exciting uh several messages as we look at the school of faith.

And uh Abraham is the dean of faith.

He's the dean of the school of faith, and we're gonna be looking at that.

Now, most Christians, most Christians understand that we are saved by faith.

Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 say, for by grace are you saved through faith.

It's not of yourself, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Most of us understand that.

But also let me remind each of us that 2 Corinthians 5.7 says that we walk by faith and not by sight.

And so that's where we're starting.

The first message is going to be walking by faith and what that encompasses and what that incorporates.

In fact, that is, hey, walking by faith or being saved by faith is the first step.

And by the way, let me remind you, Hebrews 11, 6 says, without faith, if you know this, quote it with me.

Here it is.

Well, let's read it together.

But without faith.

So without faith, it is impossible to please God.

So we see how important walking by faith really is.

In fact, that is the key ingredients to what we're going to be looking at.

How do not only am I saved by faith, but how do I walk by faith?

Now, many Christians know that they are to live the Christian life in the exact same way that they entered into the Christian life.

See, now here's what happens.

A lot of us get saved, okay, by faith.

Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, Romans 5.1.

But then all of a sudden, we kind of say, okay, we checked that off.

I'm saved now.

And then we try to take the reins of our lives back within our own, hey, with our own effort.

Then we say, okay, I'm saved, I'm excited, and then we continue to start living the same way we were living before we got saved.

Amen.

Oh me?

Absolutely.

And a lot of that has to do is because we do not grow as Christians.

We don't learn how to walk by faith.

And the more I see in this generation, the more I'm really understanding that people really don't understand what it means to live by faith.

They live by sight.

And what that literally means is they live by their senses, what they see, what they smell, what they feel, what they hear.

And that is good to a certain extent.

But let me tell you, sometimes you're going to be in situations, listen to me now, where all your senses will not bail you out.

You don't understand what's going on.

And that's when you have to totally turn to God and lean and walk by faith.

Amen?

So it's important that we understand what it really means to walk by faith.

In fact, he says, For you were once in darkness, but now your light in the Lord, walk as children of light.

Ephesians 5.8.

And what that means, we learn to walk by faith.

So, faith is basically, and if you want to write this down, I'm still in the introduction.

Faith is basically, here's what faith is.

It's simple.

It's doing what God tells us to do.

I mean, there's a hundred definitions I read and exergetically looked at, but I put it in plain words.

Faith is actually doing what God tells you to do.

Amen.

That is what faith is.

And especially when you don't know what to do.

It's doing what God tells you to do and not what you think you ought to do.

So that is what faith really is.

In fact, the word faith means assurance, it means total assurance, it means confidence.

It literally means guarantee.

It means trust.

And that's what we've been talking about.

And Abraham, we see, is the school dean of faith because he's the first picture of someone that God called out by faith and then led Abraham in his mission by faith.

Now, watch this.

When Abraham was called out in Ur, and we're going to be looking at that, he was living in a pagan society.

He was living under situations that were in Ur, Mesopotamia.

It was a seaport city, and it was an ungodly city.

It was a polytheistic city, which means the worship of many gods, and they really served the moon and the star gods.

That's what they were doing.

Plus, it was a very wealthy city.

It was a very educated city.

We've just realized that there's been a lot of uh digs now back up in, and by the way, Mesopotamia, the city of Ur, is northern Iraq, where we fought in 1991, the war.

So basically, that's where Abraham was dwelling when God called him and he saw the glory of God.

In Acts 7, we see that, and we'll look at that.

He saw the glory of God and he got the call to leave his hometown and to go to the promised land, Canaan, which is now modern Israel.

So, with that said, we see that Abraham became the friend of God, the only one in Scripture called the friend of God.

And so in the Old Testament, Abraham was called the friend of God.

In the New Testament, Abraham, and I love this, is the called the father of saving faith.

In the Old Testament, he's, hey, Abraham is, hey, I mean, God is called the friend of Abraham.

He's called the sufficient God.

And then when we get to the New Testament, we see that God is now, or should I say that, shifted from God to Abraham, and Abraham is the father of faith.

Now here's the exciting thing: there's probably not a more central figure in our salvation other than Jesus Christ than Abraham.

I mean that.

There's probably not a more central figure that relates to our salvation and our sanctification than Father Abraham.

In fact, we are all, according to Paul, in Romans chapter 4, you and I are all descendants of the Father of faith, Abraham.

Romans 4 · chapter mention

Amen.

So it's important that when we start looking these next few weeks, we're going to be looking at Father Abraham, which you and I are descendants of.

And so it's going to be exciting.

Abraham's story begins in Genesis chapter 11.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

I want you to start the story with me.

Verse, pick up at verse 26.

And Terah, Terah was Abraham's father, lived 70 years and became the father of Abram.

Abram is Abraham's name before he was saved.

And he says, lived 70 years and became the father of Abram.

Nahor and Haran, who were Abraham's brothers.

Now these are the records of the generations of Terah.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

And Haran became the father of Lot.

And Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth in Ur of the Chaldeans.

And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves.

The name of Abram's wife was Sarai.

And the name of Nahor's wife was Milk, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milk.

And Eskah and Sarai was barren.

She had no child.

And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan.

And they went as far as Koran and settled there.

And the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Quran.

Now, we see the beginning of this whole thing.

And by the way, let me say right up front, that's why the book of Genesis is so important, especially the first 11 chapters.

Okay?

In the first 11 chapters of Genesis, we see God dealing with the world, basically, with the whole world.

In fact, there's a lot of liberal theologians try to tell us that the first 11 chapters of Genesis is, you know, was not inspired, not written by God.

Well, that's a lie, because that's the whole foundation of the rest of the Bible.

Now, watch this.

It took 2,000 years for chapters 1 to 11 to transpire.

2,000 years.

Now watch this.

From chapter 12 to the rest of the whole Bible, it takes 2,000 years.

So you can see how important the first 11 chapters were and are.

They are the foundation of the whole Bible.

Can I get an amen?

So don't you ever listen to that kind of false theology and false heresy that, you know, the first 11 chapters were written by man.

No, it was, hey, the whole 66 chapters of the whole Bible were written by God.

God used man to write the word.

Can I get an amen?

All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for doctrine.

So with that said, we see then suddenly in chapter 12, God begins to deal with one person through whom he is going to impact the world and change it forever.

Now notice the word Abram.

His name, when we first meet him in chapter 11, means exalted father.

Later, God changes Abram's name to Abraham, which means the father of the multitude.

Now here's the exciting thing.

Trusting God and believing through faith.

Why?

Because he's called the father of the multitudes.

But yet his wife Sarai at this time was totally barren.

He had no children.

But yet God says, I'm going to bless you and bless your descendants.

And that didn't take place till 40 years later.

Hello.

Talking about learning to walk by faith, to trust God for what did not yet exist, Abraham had to do that.

In fact, that's where we get the definition out of Hebrews 11:1.

Hebrews 11:1

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

Amen.

Amen.

In fact, one of my mentors taught me that what that meant.

Bill Stafford used to say this all the time.

Bill used to say, faith is believing something is so when it's not so, so that it becomes so because God said so.

Amen.

And that is exactly what Abram had to believe.

He had to believe what God said so, because it had not come so.

Amen.

So he had to.

And that's with me and you.

When we get saved, we have to start believing that God's got a journey for us, God's got a plan for us, God's got a place for us, even though we don't know where it is yet.

We trust him to lead us.

Can I get an amen?

And that is what it means.

So we see he came out of all this unbelievable, ungodly adultery.

In fact, I want you to see what God did.

He first of all, the call of faith on Abraham.

Look at it.

The first thing I want you to look at.

In Genesis 11, we find the background of Abram's departure from Ur.

Notice in verses 27-32, I just read, it was a call to separate from idolatry.

Idolatry.

In Joshua 24, I want you to see this, verses 1 and 2, we find Joshua speaking about the background, and I love this, of the nation of Israel.

And here's what he's saying: He's referring back to Terah, Abraham's father, and Abraham.

And look at what he says.

This is awesome.

He says, Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, his brother, dwelt on the other side of the river, which is Mesopotamia.

And again, watch this.

And what look at what it says in old times and watch.

And they served other gods.

Verse 2 in Joshua 24.

So Abram came from an adulterous background in Ur.

He was called to stop worshiping many gods and began to worship the one and true God.

Can I get an amen?

And is that not true?

I have people all the time say, it really doesn't matter what we believe long as we believe.

Or we here's another here's another statement that they use all the time.

Well, you know, we all going to the same place.

We just may be going by different roads.

I've got a Greek word for that, hogwash.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life.

No man cometh unto the Father except by me.

John 14, 6.

Neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby men, hey, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4.12.

Amen.

There's only one way, folks.

And Jesus is the way.

Amen.

No other way.

No other way.

So we see he was called to separate from idolatry, the moon gods, the star gods.

It was a city of astrology.

They believed in astrology.

I mean, it was all kind of false god worship going on.

Now, I know what you're thinking and what I was thinking.

We don't see that going on today in America.

We don't see a wood god or some kind of cement god on the corners where we go or in the malls where they're worshiping like they did during this time of Abraham.

But let me tell you, idolatry is just as strong today as it was back then.

It's just in different forms.

Amen.

For example, we worship what we call the greenback.

Hello?

Money.

Money.

Money is a God in America today.

It's a lot of our gods.

Amen.

Hello, come on.

But let me remind us: if riches increase, Psalm 62.10 says, what?

Set not your heart upon them.

And he says in 1 Timothy 6.10, the love of money is the root to all evil.

So that's a God.

What about, hey, there's a lot of other gods.

Our jobs sometimes become our gods.

Our families sometimes become our gods.

Our position, our power, our education, our talents.

Oh, boy, here's a good one.

Now I'm gonna get uh rub a little feathers, but that's okay.

That's okay.

Our hobbies, our sports.

Whoa! Hey, I mean, and and I'm guilty of it.

I'm a sports fanatic.

Uh there's a little ball, there's a little football game going on today.

Anybody, anybody know what football game's being played today?

No, no.

You just lied.

It's called the what?

Super Bowl.

Supposedly it's the largest viewed sports event of all the sports events every year.

Okay?

That's what they say.

Now they're trying to say that it's the world uh soccer thing now.

But but in America, it's the largest viewed sport events all year.

More people will watch that football game today than any other time.

And that's good.

We're gonna I'm gonna watch it.

And if I think the youth are having a Super Bowl party here, so that's good.

And eating wings, then I probably come eat some wings.

But but uh anyway, what I'm what am I saying?

That's become a God.

Sports is a God, hobbies are a God.

And if we're not careful, and let me tell you what a God is.

Wait, wait, wait.

Here's what a God is a God is a false God.

A false God is anything that comes between you and God being first in your life.

That is an idol to you.

Amen.

Amen.

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

So Abraham was called to separate from idolatry.

It was a must.

He had to.

But notice what else?

Not only was he called to separate from idolatry, secondly, he was called to separate from security.

Uh-oh.

Look at this.

Look at verse 1 in chapter 12.

Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country, from your relatives, and from your father's house to the land which I show you.

Wow.

Wow.

When Abram left Ur, he did so with his father, Terah.

But he, hey, but when they settled for a time in Koran, we see that, hey, he took his father, he took his nephew, he took his uh servants, he took everyone with him.

And verse 1 reveals that Abram had it all in Ur.

He had his homeland, he had his family, he had an extended family.

Again, like I said, it was a wealthy city.

He was a he was definitely learning to be a great businessman.

He was a businessman.

I mean, he had it all going for him.

He was he was living well, had all his family members there, had great jobs, great money, great wealth, and now all of a sudden God says, Hey, I want you to leave it all.

Hello.

Now I'm sure you say, Oh, I would do that in a heartbeat.

Give me a break.

Amen.

When God first called me, it took me two and a half years to finally leave.

Why?

Because I was secure in my job and in my family, in my home.

Amen.

I was a fireman, paramedic, I was a police officer.

I had a great job, enjoyed it.

I was doing my sports.

I was doing it all, man.

And now all of a sudden God says, Hey, pack up and leave.

And I said, Where am I going?

He said, You're going to Lynchburg.

I said, Where's Lynchburg?

He said, Don't worry about it, just start going.

And see, I had run from the call because he had called me two years prior to finally I got to the point I knew I had to leave or I was going to lose my family.

And I was miserable.

Let me tell you something.

When God calls you to do something, you don't do it, you'll be miserable.

You'll be miserable.

So Abraham was called to leave his security.

The hardest thing to do is to leave security.

Why?

Because our wives are developed and made for.

Hey, why do you think they love a home and a nest?

They want that security.

A woman wants security.

Do I have an amen, ladies?

Amen.

So when I told Becky, my wife that died and is in heaven, I said, honey, we're moving.

She said, What?

But actually, after about an hour, she said, you know what?

I think that's what we need to do.

If our marriage is going to make it, we just need to leave.

We packed up a U-Haul trailer, a little Volkswagen, and we left.

We left within 24 hours because I knew if I didn't, somebody would talk me out of it.

Amen.

So we see he's called to separate from security.

The Bible says we are not sufficient in ourselves, but our sufficiencies in God.

2 Corinthians 3.5.

My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4.19.

Man, that's so good.

That's so good.

So, secondly, we s thirdly, we see that, hey, Abraham was called to separate from his family.

That's pretty tough.

He said, I don't want you to take any of your family other than your wife.

That's all I want you to take.

Yep.

He said, he said, look, he said, well, he didn't say that, but he was married.

I mean, you're gonna leave his wife too.

Yeah.

Yeah, but but he wasn't supposed to take Lot.

And Lot caused him problems in Canaan big time.

In fact, what we see here is that he did not listen to God totally, and because he did not listen to God totally down the road, Lot caused him major problems.

You got me ahead of my outline, but I'll get there in a minute.

But anyway, family.

Sometimes it's hard to leave our family.

One of the best things ever happened, listen, whenever one of the best things ever happened to our youngest daughter, Stephanie and Jeremy, after she finished PA school here at UAB, was when they went all the way to Sacramento, California.

She was searching for jobs as a PA.

She had everywhere she interviewed, they offer a job.

She had Florida, Virginia, she had here in Alabama.

And we definitely, or she had an offer, I think, in Tennessee, or she was about to interview, and the doctor had already told her he'd give her a job.

And uh we were wanting her to stay close, we thought.

Started saying, I can't do that.

That's what daddy wants.

I cannot interfere with what God wants with my daughter and my son-in-law.

And now they're in Sacramento, California.

And you know what?

They're doing, they're they're just awesome.

And you know what they said?

As much as we love y'all, Dad, we know this is where God wants us to be.

That's what I'm talking about, church.

Amen.

Sometimes God calls us to separate from our family.

And there's a re there's reasons for that.

There really is, and you'll see that as we go on.

The call to separate from family.

In fact, let me look at Luke 14.

Jason, throw up Luke 14, 26.

This is a good verse.

Look at what it says.

If any man come to me and hate not his father, no mother, or wife, and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Now, he's not talking there.

Jesus is not saying hate, well, I just hate you.

No.

What he is saying there, you hey, your love for me ought to succeed any relationship that you have with any family member.

So to the point, if I call you to do something, you do it regardless of your family.

Amen.

Now that's pretty powerful scripture, folks, but that's exactly what it means.

That, hey, I am Lord of your life, I am number one in your life, and you follow me wholeheartedly, and you don't let your family come in my way.

Can we say amen?

So it's very important that we understand.

Man, that's that's tough.

That's a toughie.

I understand.

But I really believe sometimes God calls his children to do something that doesn't make sense.

And I know a lot of times it doesn't make sense.

Why would you want to leave your family?

I know all that.

Or to go somewhere, hey, God called Abraham to go somewhere where he didn't even know where he's going.

I mean, he knew Canaan, but he really wasn't sure how he's gonna get there.

He didn't want to cross the desert.

So we see this unbelievable.

And he said, hey, you're gonna, you're gonna you're gonna be a father of multitudes, and yet his wife, Sarai, at that time couldn't even have children.

Huh?

Wow.

So sometimes God calls his children to do something that doesn't make sense.

Obeying God will often put you at odds with people.

Now watch.

I wrote this to myself.

Obeying God will often put you at odds with people who are content.

Now watch.

To continue on with life as usual.

In other words, they don't want to change.

They want to just keep doing the same thing, same thing.

Why?

They're secure.

They feel secure.

They've got their own vision of what they want to do, how they want to do it, and they're doing it, and don't rock the boat.

Can I tell you something about God?

He won't rock your boat.

Bless God, he'll turn it over.

And say, hey, swim, sink, or swim.

Amen.

He will.

He'll put you in the water real quick.

You just cruising alone in that yacht enjoying yourself.

Oh, hey, I'm just happy and no worries.

Woom now.

What in the world happened?

You're going in the wrong direction.

I remember somebody got on the boat and went in the wrong direction.

Remember him?

Hello.

What was his name?

Jonah said, I'm not going to Nineveh, I'm going to Tarsus.

Okay, he got on the boat, but he hadn't gotten very far out of port.

And next thing you know, a storm came, and next thing you know, he's in the water.

Next thing you know, free willy comes by, who swallows him up, and he's in the belly of a whale.

Hello.

Whale University.

Yeah.

You just keep going the wrong direction.

Yeah.

That's good.

That was good.

So the faithful believer must be prepared to walk by faith often alone when everybody else is telling you ought not to do it.

Hello.

Hello.

Amen.

I've had people tell me all my life, I don't think you ought to do that.

And you know what I learned after a while?

When they tell me that, that's a good sign I'm doing what I need to be doing.

They told me I ought not to go to liberty.

Then they told me I ought not to go to open door.

And then they told me I ought not to go to Tennessee Temple.

I might have listened.

Should have listened.

No, I'm done.

But anyway, we see the call of faith.

No second thing Abraham learned.

The covenant of faith.

Look at verse 2 and 3 in chapter 12.

And I will make you a great nation.

And I will bless you.

Do you see the I will?

I will make you a great nation.

Well, look at look at the end of verse 1.

He says, When you separate from your relatives and from your father's house, I'll take you to the land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation.

I will bless you.

I will make your name great, and so ye shall be a blessing.

And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse.

Hey, and uh and the ones who curse you, I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Wow.

When God called Abraham to leave Koran, he made promises to Abraham, which we refer to as the Abrahamic covenant.

And here's what it means.

God promised Abraham four things.

Look at it.

Fill it in.

I will show you a land.

Now watch this.

How does that apply today?

When you get saved and you sign up for the, hey, for the school of faith.

Here's what you're saying.

God, show me the way.

Show me the way.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go.

I will guide thee with my eyes.

Psalms 32, 8, he says, The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord.

Psalms 37, 23.

But here's what he's saying.

I'll show you.

Now hang in here, young people, this is good.

He says, not only will I show you the way, I'll show you where you need to be ministering.

I'll show you who you need to date.

Hello.

Susan taught on dating Wednesday night.

I'll show you who to date.

Guess this.

I'll show you who to marry.

Amen.

I'll show you who to marry.

Or he may say you don't need to be married.

Hello.

He says, I'll show you where to go to school.

I'll show you your occupation.

I'll show you your business adventures.

I'll show you where you need to live.

I'll show you where you need to go to church.

I'll show you.

If you'll follow me and not what you want, but what God wants.

I think that's very important in choosing a church.

That's why I'm so excited about this church.

You know what we pray for every week, every Tuesday and Thursday when we meet David and Christy and me and Susan at 6 o'clock and pray for hours when we pray on Wednesday night?

Here's what we pray.

God, you send us people to this church that you call to this church that wants to be a part of this church to help build this church for your glory and for your honor and your way.

Amen.

But that's what, that's what, that's it.

He'll show you.

Notice the second thing.

He says, I will make you a great nation.

How does that apply to us?

He will make us a great witness.

He will build a great home for us.

We build a great home for God, except the Lord build the house of labor in vain to build it.

Amen.

I'll help you build a great home.

I'll help you, hey, to have a home that hey, that honors and cherishes and exalts God where family devotions are and love it.

Moms and dad love each other.

Kids love the parents.

And they really exemplify what a godly home ought to be.

Which we don't see in America today, hardly.

Oh, he says, right here, I will make you, I will build it.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

Amen.

Choose you this day whom you're going to serve.

For me and my house, we're going to serve God.

Joshua 24, 15.

Psalms 33, 12.

Notice 13.

He says, I'm going to bless you.

I will bless you.

Look at it, verse 3.

And I will bless those who bless you.

I will bless you.

Would you like to be blessed?

Can I get an amen?

Look at verse 2.

And I will bless you.

And I will bless those who bless you.

Watch this.

Not only will he bless you, but he'll bless you for blessing others.

Hey, good grief.

That's good.

You say, well, what should I do?

Be a blessing.

You don't need to be a curse.

You need to be a blessing.

Amen.

And he's talking about the nation Israel.

That's why I am pro-Israel all the way.

Always have been, always will be.

You bless God's people, God blesses you.

Amen?

Pro-Israel all the way.

Always have been.

And then he says, I will bless you.

In fact, Psalms 115, verse 12, he says, I have been mindful of you to bless you.

Psalms 115:12

Wow.

Did you just hear what I said?

God says, I have been mindful of you to bless you.

Man, that's good.

Somebody say, I will, that's that's good, preacher.

Thank you.

And then D, I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.

Let me tell you what I put down.

I wrote this verse and memorized it this week.

Psalms 56.9.

When I cry unto thee, God, my enemies turn back.

When I cry unto thee, my enemies turn back.

And then he ends that Psalms 56.9 with this.

And this I know God is for me.

And if God be for you, who can be against you?

This I know.

Abraham knew God was for him.

My soul.

And by the way, you know what I've learned?

I may be standing, the only one standing, but if God be for me, that's all I need.

Amen.

Amen.

He's the majority.

Yes.

Yes, he's the majority.

And hey, and he likes to show out.

He doesn't like a lot of numbers when it comes to doing work for him because then men get the credit.

Remember Gideon, remember Gideon?

He had thousands and he got them down.

He said, no, the ones that go down there and pick up.

Yeah, yeah, he says, get rid of them.

Just get rid of them all.

Get it rid of them.

He ended up, he went from 10,000 to 300.

Can you imagine what Gideon said?

Because Gideon was not a valid warrior at the beginning.

In fact, when God said you're a valid warrior, he said, Who are you talking about?

You're not talking about me.

So, what I'm saying is, God wants preeminence.

God wants all the praise.

God, hey, why?

Because God has all the power.

Amen.

Amen.

That's good.

So we see how important it was.

Now, watch.

These promises to Abraham.

Now let me show you how this works.

This ought to make you have a Pentecostal spell.

These promises to Abraham represents a turning point in the whole world history.

Why?

From the seed of Abraham, are you ready for this?

I wrote it down.

Became the nation Israel.

And then from the nation Israel came Jesus, the Messiah.

Amen.

See how world history literally changed through Abraham's faith.

While Abraham exercised faith in believing and obeying God's call, he also struggled, though, to learn to walk by faith, just as we do.

See, a lot of people look at Abraham and they'll say, Abraham.

They'll say to Abraham, they'll say, Man, he was a man of faith.

You know, and we had this tendency to look at all these great patriarchs of the faith and hear all the great works they did.

And we we have this tendency, and it's a fleshly tendency, to really believe that they really didn't have struggles.

Amen.

Okay?

Or you look at some of these pastors and you think, man, Pastor Danny's got it together.

Absolutely not.

Hey, absolutely not.

I've got it together as long as I'm walking by faith.

But I'm as human as anybody else.

It only takes one day for me to get off the path of faith into the flesh.

And once you get into the path of the flesh, you can commit any sin.

Hello.

Did you hear me?

Any sin.

You with me?

So it's a daily walk by faith.

And we see that because I look at the third thing.

What?

Abraham is called by faith.

And now all of a sudden Abraham compromises a little bit.

Well, first of all, he compromised right out the shoot, right out the door.

God told him not to take any of his family.

But guess what?

He said, I gotta take my dad.

Guess what?

I gotta take my nephew because my brother died.

I'm the overseer now.

I mean, I gotta take care of my brothers.

Now wait a minute, he had another brother.

Nahor.

I didn't let Nahor do it.

And he did what God told him to do.

Hello.

See?

So Rhea, hey, a lot of times we get saved and run out of the shoot, we're just not wholeheartedly, radically sold out.

Let me tell you why.

And that's okay.

That's okay.

None of us are.

Because we gotta grow into this faith.

Second Peter 3.18, but grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It's a growing process.

Now look what happens.

They go, they leave, they're headed to Canaan.

And watch this.

And by the way, in Genesis chapter 11, verse 27 through 32, and then Genesis 12, a lot of commentators, this is a tough situ.

Genesis 11:27–32

And if it's really not tough at all.

It's really pretty simple if you do a thorough inductive study of all the scriptures.

But a lot of theologians try to say that Abraham only had one call, and that was the first call out of Ur to go to Canaan.

Well, I see the first call.

And a lot of times they try to say the first call in Genesis 11.

And this is a little deep.

I understand that.

I'm trying to explain it so you stay with me.

I almost didn't say I'd do this, but I think it's important.

When he was first called in Ur Mesopotamia, a lot of people say he wasn't called in, it was his dad called.

There's no other scripture to support that idea.

Okay.

And then Abraham got his one and only call in Genesis 12.

That's the only problem with that.

Scripture tells us.

I want you to see this.

Go to Acts 7.

And this is so good.

Man, this is good.

Because it shows us how he compromised.

Now, Stephen, here we see in Acts 7, verses 2 and 3.

Acts 7:2

We see Stephen speaks to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem right before he gets stoned.

Stephen gives us the correct chronological of the two calls.

He gives us the sequence, a better word.

What's this?

Here it is.

Brethren and fathers, listen.

The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in where?

That's Ur.

Before he dwelt in where?

Well, it's it's spelled Haran, but Haran's the brother's name, but it's pronounced Quran.

Alright, so Quran.

Alright?

Now, soan.

God did call Abraham when he was in Ur, but Abraham wasn't perfect.

And when we begin reading in Genesis 12, we find Abraham is not in Canaan, but in Quran.

As we study the sequence of Abraham's life from all the revelate biblical passages, we learn he stayed in Koran.

Watch, approximately 15 years.

Now watch, he's 60 years old when he's called in Genesis 11 to leave and go to Canaan.

He leaves and they get to Quran and all of a sudden they stay there for 15 years before he gets to Canaan.

Now a lot of people say, why did he do that?

Well, I got some ideas.

Maybe it was his father, because back then they honored their father so greatly.

And then we also know Koran was a great wealthy city.

Maybe there were business opportunities.

We don't know.

But for some reason, we know, hey, I think possibly it, you know, when it boils down to it, it's called backsliding.

And a backslider is filled with his own ways.

So whatever it was, it was a backsliding situation because instead of going on to Canaan like God asked him to do and leaving his daddy and his nephew back in Mesopotamia like God asked him to do, he takes them with him and he stops in Quran and stays there 15 years.

Now there's a good side of this, even though he's a man.

The good side is that's Abraham, the father of our faith.

And if it was, hey, if he had to learn to walk by faith step by step, guess what?

That gives me encouragement.

I can learn too.

Can I get an amen?

I can learn to.

I'm not perfect.

You're not perfect.

It takes time as we grow in the likeness of God.

Amen.

That's encouraging.

So we see Koran approximately 15 years, so Abraham was learning to follow God.

Now, let me tell you what I meant.

Hey, so what does that mean, the compromise of faith?

He failed to leave totally idolatry.

By the way, this was another place of moon and star worship.

So, in other words, he had not gotten all the world out of him yet.

Can I get an amen?

That's basically the best way to say it.

He had one foot.

He had one foot serving the Lord and one foot in the world.

Woo! Sound familiar.

Hello.

Who's guilty?

I'm gonna try that again.

I better see every hand.

The mic wasn't working.

Huh?

The mic wasn't working.

Mike wasn't working.

Okay.

All right.

How many of us have tried to live the Christian life with one foot, hey, following God and one foot in the world?

Amen.

Amen.

Oh man.

Let's just say it right.

Oh me.

And guess what?

Have you ever listened is it easier to walk in the same place or is it easier to walk like this?

Huh?

And we wonder why when we're walking like this, why don't we have so many problems?

Hello.

Huh?

Y'all like that example, didn't you?

Is that not true, church?

Is that not true?

Absolutely true.

So we see that.

He failed to leave the world.

John James 4.4.

Well, no, leave it right there.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

And if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

There it is, folks.

For all that loves the world, the lust of the flesh, lust of eyes, pride of life.

Not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passeth away in the lust thereof.

But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

And then he says in James 4, for ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of this world is what?

Ooh, this is tough.

Enmity with God.

That means hostility with God.

Notice what else he didn't leave.

He failed to immediately leave his family.

Guess who's still with him?

His father and his nephew, Lot, and all the servants that he had obtained.

They're all still with him.

Now watch this.

He didn't leave Koran to go to the promised land, Israel, until his father died.

Hello.

That tells me there had to be such a strong loyalty, I believe, to his daddy.

And I understand that.

I mean, in that time.

Okay.

There was a strong loyalty there.

And now let me show you something else.

Here's where it gets a little sticky.

Don't miss this.

Whatever it takes for God to get you where you need to be, he will remove it.

Hello.

Now let don't get too.

The man was 205 years old.

I think he had lived a pretty good life.

Hello?

And I think.

So don't get too down.

Oh mo 205.

Tara might have been thinking it's time for me to go.

Amen.

So, but what I'm trying to say is God will do what he needs to do to move you.

Let me give you another example.

Luke 9, there it is, 59 through 62.

Watch this.

And he said unto me, Jesus is talking, follow me, said the Lord.

Suffer.

I mean, he asked the disciples, some disciples to follow him now.

Listen to some of the excuses.

But one of the disciples said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

Now, that didn't mean that his dad was dead.

His dad wasn't dead.

But what he meant was, wait till my father dies and I can bury him and get his inheritance.

Go do your historical setting there.

Hello.

Look what Jesus said.

Let the dead bury the dead.

Let the dead bury the dead.

Can I get an amen?

But go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

Look at verse 61.

Another one said, Lord, I'll follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.

In other words, let me go and get my home in order.

Let me make sure, you know, I got everything.

And when I feel like it's good a time for me to leave, and everything's secure and everything's in order, I'll leave.

Look what Jesus said.

And Jesus said unto him, No man hadn't putting his hand to the plow, and look a bad is fit for the kingdom of God.

In other words, you said, hey, I'm your, you, you, you allowed me to come into your heart.

You said that I'm Lord of your life, and now you're telling me what you're gonna do and when you're gonna do it.

Hello.

Hello.

You okay?

Okay out there?

So that's not gonna work.

That's not gonna work.

Which brings me to the fourth point: the compliance of faith.

Now, remember, he's 60 years old when he got the first call.

He gets the Quran, stays there 15 years.

So how old does that make him?

Now he's 75, and look what happens.

Verse 4 and 5.

Actually, he gets another.

Hey, the Lord kind of wakes him up.

Now, the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country.

Again, now look at verse 4.

So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.

Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Coran, and Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all those possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Coran, and they set out for the land of Canaan.

Thus they came to the land of Canaan, and Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Sekem to the oak of Moriah.

Now the Canaanites was then in the land.

So notice 75, verse 4.

So they came to the land of Canaan, verse 5.

At 75, Abraham finally arrived at the place to which God had called him.

Wow.

Faith primarily, again, is obedience to what God tells us to do.

And let me say something, folks.

Here's what how God tells us to do something through the word of God.

This is his direct revelation.

This is him like he spoke to Abraham speaking to us.

Faith cometh by, you know it, hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10, 17.

So it's so important that we understand that.

And it is so good.

By faith, Abraham dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country.

I love that.

Look at Hebrews 11, 9.

He never, in fact, there's two things about Abraham I saw as I was studying.

I said, ooh, that's good.

First of all, there's the symbol of Abraham, which is a tent.

Okay?

He always had a tent.

You know why he had a tent?

In fact, when you study the scriptures, uh, I was looking at, I'm a Civil War fanatic.

And General Lee used to tell the troops, and not just General Lee, uh, Sherman.

I was reading the Northern General Sherman, said the same thing.

When they would pitch their tents, both of those great generals would say, do not drive the stake too deep.

Because we're, hey, in the morning, we're moving up.

They both never said they're moving back, they're moving up.

They didn't believe in retreat.

We're moving up.

So don't dig your, don't put your stakes too deep.

Be ready to pull them up so we can move up quickly.

Well, Abraham's symbol was a tent.

He never allowed the world to dig him in after this incident.

After this incident at Quran for 15 years, he learned his lesson.

And from then on, he never allowed the world to stop him from fulfilling what God wanted him to do.

Well, he did have another little bump in Egypt.

But he but what I'm saying is, folks, hey, we're just passing through.

Amen.

This is not our home.

Can I get an amen?

We're just passing through.

We should never let the world dig us in to the point we can uproot when God calls us to do something.

Amen.

And so that is so important.

And he says, by faith, he sojourned in the land of promise as a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him, the same promise.

In other words, they never allowed the world to dictate to them what God wanted them to do.

Whew, that's good.

Number five.

Then we see verse six through nine, the confirmation of his faith.

But oh, what I was gonna say.

The symbol, and we'll see this in a minute, the symbol of Abraham was a tent.

But the secret of Abraham and Abraham learning to walk by faith was his altar.

Everywhere he went, he built an altar to God.

The symbol was a tent, the secret was an altar.

Is that not good?

Everywhere he went, and you're gonna see that.

First of all, the confirmation of faith.

Look, God confirms his promise to Abraham in verse 7.

Look at what he tells Abraham.

And the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, To your descendants, I will give you this land.

So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

Wow.

The confirmation experience was twofold.

First, God confirmed to Abraham that he had done the right thing by leaving Ur and coming to Canaan.

Amen.

God is good about sometimes when he calls you to do something you don't understand, he confirms it.

For example, when God called me, you know, to leave, to leave, to go to from open door to liberty, again, he confirmed that God was in it.

He sold my house within a week.

When God called me to go here, God sold my house in two days.

So when God, when you're ready to step out of that comfort zone, when you're ready to do something God's called you to do and you're not sure, you know you got to give up your security.

You got to give up, you got to give up your family, you got to give up a lot, that security, maybe that pave.

But God calls you to do it.

And you step out and you're going, you're walking by faith, and you're not doing this.

You're not walking one faith in, hey, by one foot in faith and one in the flesh, but you're walking by faith.

God will come alongside you, and he'll give you a confirmation that you're doing what he's told you to do.

Man, that's good.

Man, that's good.

And then Abraham confirms his faith to God.

Look at verse 7 and 8.

He builds an altar.

A person who walks in faith and obedience is a person who will worship God consistently.

Being to be everywhere you see after this, Abraham, when when he was walking by faith, watch this.

He was consistently and continually worshiping God and built in altars.

Now, when he gets out of, when he disobeys God, watch.

And there's a couple other times, and we're going to look at those.

When he disobeys God and went down to Egypt when God told him to stay in Canaan, when there was a drought, as if God couldn't take care of him in a drought.

He decides to go where the land's watered and beautiful and into Egypt.

That cost him dearly.

See, when you disobey God, it cost.

When you obey, hey, here's the way I like to put it.

When you disobey God, it costs you.

When you obey God, hey, it costs him.

In other words, you either pay or you let him pay.

Amen.

If you obedient to him, he'll pay.

He'll pay everything.

He'll take care of everything.

But if you disobey him, look out.

You pay.

Amen.

So we see that it was so important.

So let's conclude.

Wrap it up.

Here it is.

These five things about faith are invaluable.

Learning to walk by faith, what does it mean?

Number one, A.

Faltering faith is not always failing faith.

Can I get an Amen?

Boy, that's good.

Can I, every one of us ought to?

Amen.

Faltering faith is not always failing faith.

And by the way, worshiping God, building altars.

That's why you come to church.

That's why you have quiet time.

That's why you hey, this is part of your building altar.

You're faithful to God.

You're worshiping Him continually.

Amen.

That's why I love to come to church.

I can't wait to get here.

Because I'm going to be with you and what's going to be exciting.

We're going to allow God to teach us how to be more like Him, how to walk more by faith with Him.

Oh, it's so important.

Oh, it's so important.

But failing faith is not always, I mean, faltering faith is not always failing faith.

I love that.

Even when, hey, we falter in our faith, that doesn't mean we have to fail.

Can I get an amen?

See, here's the thing.

And I love this.

Abraham.

Abraham faltered, but he didn't fail.

See, we can either obey God outright or God will use circumstances to get us in the right place.

But remember, when he faltered in Quran, he didn't fail.

There was a setback, but he didn't fail.

He still ended up accomplishing getting to where God wanted him to go.

Okay?

And hey, when he faltered in Canaan, when there was a drought, and he decided to go down to where the water in Egypt, the land was green and the water plenteous, he faltered, but he didn't fail.

But now it cost him, and we'll look at that with Lot, but he didn't fail.

I heard this the other day.

I don't even know.

Or read, I read so much.

And because I used to say Christians fall down but they get back up.

And that is 24-16.

The righteous fall seven times but they get back up.

But let me tell you what I read, and I said, man, that is so good.

I was reading through this, and the guy said, I never fall.

I said, no, wait a minute.

Wait a minute, wait, wait, wait.

That's not Proverbs 24, 16.

Because it said the righteous fall seven times.

But here's the way he interpreted it.

He said, I never fall.

I'm either standing or I'm getting back up.

He wasn't going to say I fall.

He says, I'm either standing or I'm getting up.

I said, I like that.

In other words, as Christians, yes, we falter, but we never fail.

Can I get an amen?

Yes, we falter, but we do not fail.

Why?

Because we're either standing or we are getting back up.

Two, faith is not about perfection, but about direction.

Boy, that's good.

That's where God's leading us.

You'll never be perfect until we go to be with Him.

Can I get an Amen?

Man, I I blow it every day.

Amen.

Don't look at me like you do too.

Amen.

You follow me, I follow you.

See, we both blow it.

We all blow it.

The key is we recognize it.

We ask God to forgive us, and we stand back up.

Amen.

And we keep going.

Faith is not about perfection, but about direction.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

What we need to do is get up, get reoriented in the direction of God's call, and continue our march by faith.

See?

Disobeyed instructions, delayed additional instructions.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, I'd never seen it before.

Watch this.

The whole 15 years, Abraham was in the Quran.

We have nothing in the scripture that indicates that he and God were communicating.

I was sharing this with a gentleman recently because we were talking about Abraham, because there's a lot of it's a good thing to discuss with theologians.

I was discussing this with a preacher.

And he said, You know, I don't understand why God didn't tell Abraham, you're in the wrong place, get up and go.

Get out of here.

And then I thought for a minute, here's what God kind of gave me peace about.

And this is so true, and I've evaluated my own life and I've seen this in my own life.

Why should God give you more instruction to do something, hey, more when you haven't done what he's told you to do.

You gotta walk in the light you have before he gives you more light.

God had given him the light.

Abraham knew where he needed to go.

It wasn't until Abraham started fulfilling and going in the right direction again that God began to speak again.

That's a good word, folks.

You're sitting here and you're saying, I I don't know why I can't hear God.

I have people tell me all the time, I can't, I don't feel like God, I can't hear God.

Here's my question.

This is good.

Possibly the reason you're not hearing God, you're not doing what God's already told you to do.

You listening?

And we know if sin's in your life, it's gonna grieve the spirit.

But guess what?

You know what?

Part of the reason sin's in our life is because we're not being obedient to what God does.

Tells us what to do.

Let me prove that.

John 14, 23.

He that knoweth to do good and do it not, to him it is what?

Okay.

And then D.

The power of faith is found in the patience of our faith.

From the moment God called him till he got his descendant Isaac, it was 40 years.

60?

Hey, you remember when he had the child?

When he was a hundred.

40 years.

Patience.

Be still and know that I'm God.

I love this.

Hey, James, I think, I don't know if I put it up there, but James, what?

Yeah, well, Isaiah 40.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and faint not.

That's it.

And then listen to what he says in James 1, 3 and 4.

The trying of your faith works patience, but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.

Wow.

You gotta be patient.

You know, I'm not patient.

Can I go ahead and say, Fess up, I'm not patient.

I have to work on that all the time.

I want it done yesterday.

I do.

Some of you, I know you quite well, you're the same way.

You know, I don't mind being, hey, I don't mind God waiting if you'll just wait and finish it tomorrow.

He can wait today, don't do it today, but do it tomorrow.

Anybody else like that?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Susan's a lot like that sometimes.

That's can you imagine two of us?

Because, and we don't, we've caught each other.

We'll ask each other do something, and then we come back, we catch ourselves, we're asking, did you do that?

Did you do that?

Did you do that?

Hey, you told me, I know, I'll do it when I do it.

That's me.

Now, she you know what she says, I heard you.

I heard you.

Okay.

Don't let her say that the third time.

If she says it the third time, I'm getting on my Harley and leaving.

And then the last thing.

While the building of our faith takes a lifetime.

Oh, I love this.

The birth of our faith takes one moment.

Is that not sweet?

The building of our faith takes a lifetime.

But the birth of our faith is just one moment.

Let me ask you this morning.

Do you know him?

Do you know him?

I've asked neither to play.

She can sing it too if you want to.

She can sing too.

Trust and obey, for there's no other way.

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

My grandmother and granddaddy used to sing that all the time.

Trust and obey for there's no other way.

He used to say, Danny boy, right here.

Reading this book, Danny Boy, will keep you from sin.

But sin will keep you from this book.

And he said, You read this book, you believe this book, you do this book, God will bless you.

Took me a long time to really start doing that, but once I started doing that, it's not been the same since.

I'm telling you, folks, building faith takes a lifetime.

But the birth of faith takes one moment.

Do you know him?

Do you know him?

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

Romans 5 1.

For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.