246 ~ CAREFULLY CURATED PROMISES

Hello, a big welcome to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.

We are a church based out of Chennai, India.

We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will

be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.

Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of

purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.

As you listen in to today's sermon, carefully curated

promises, we begin to look closely at Abraham's life of

faith and hope that your heart is stirred up with a renewed

trust in God for the year ahead. Hi Church, What a joy it is to

bring God's word to you. Today we're looking at this

theme for this year, 2025, positioned to possess the

promise. And I don't know what you've

received from it, but Mangeshom and I were praying over this for

the past few months and justice, kind of assimilating it, putting

it into our system. God was reminding us of so many

promises that He has made over the years to us both as a

couple, as a family, as individuals.

And over the last 17 years, we have seen them unfold.

And you know, when you look at a promise, we tend to look at it

in our human mind logically in such a 1 dimensional way.

But God has this amazing way of just, you know, I'm doing more

than we could ever imagine with that promise that He has given

to us. And today, when we look at the

theme for 2025 position to possess the promise, I believe

that God has given each of us a promise for our lives.

And when we talk about a promise, we're not talking just

about a small thing like a career change or a shift in our

health or something like that. But this is larger.

This involves Our Calling. This involves territory that we

must take for the Kingdom. Where we will live out our

life's calling and purpose to the fullest.

And God is positioning each of us to possess that land, that

spiritual territory that has been marked out for us.

And that is what this year is going to look like.

And today we're going to begin a series over the next two months

at least, where we're going to be looking at the life of

Abraham, someone who was so pivotal to every believer in

Jesus, looking at him and seeing how he possessed the promise

that God gave, it gave him. And I've titled today's sermon

Carefully Curated Promises, because God crafts promises for

each of us. The.

Promises are from His word, but then He gives each of us a

specific one, which is so tailor made to Our Calling, to our

personality, to what He is destined for us, to what He has

made us for. And I believe that he chooses

his people for a specific time, for a specific purpose.

And we're going to be looking at Abraham particularly because he

was the epitome of taking God at his word and going on to follow

whatever God asked of him, right?

And I believe this is very pivotal.

The worst that we're going to focus on, on all the weeks,

whether we're going to kind of pivot everything on, is this

Genesis 18 verses 18 to 19 says. Abraham will surely become a

Genesis 18:18–19

great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be

blessed through him. For I have chosen him so that he

will direct his children and his household after him, to keep the

way of the Lord by doing what is right and justice, so that the

Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised

him. If you look in this, he's

actually, God is actually mulling over whether to, you

know, give Abraham Intel about Sodom and Gomorrah and what he's

going to do there. And he's he's talking to himself

and saying, should I tell him because I have chosen Abraham

for a certain purpose? Because when he fulfills that

purpose, I will give him the promise I have.

Promised him and I want to ask you this question that you're

probably thinking could God choose each of us for such a

high calling? Yes, it's a resounding yes.

And what is this calling exactly to direct our children and

households after us to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is

right and just more is caught than taught.

Abraham and Sarah really lived that.

It was not just them who was following this living God,

leaving an A familiar territory, territory for the unknown, but

they had to leave their people in the ways of justice and

righteousness. And that was what God was

calling them to, so that He would set them apart from all

the nations around them. Right, and the byproduct of such

a lifestyle of justice following heart after God would be God in

turn fulfilling His promise. The problem is, most often all

of us want to short circuit. That we're like.

You know what, God? You said something, do it.

You said you didn't enlarge my family.

You said you'll enlarge my my wealth.

You said you will do this God. But where is your promise?

We forget that there are conditions almost like subtext.

Which is so. Beautifully woven into God's

Word that we need to look at that to understand how God

actually fulfills His Word to us.

Over the next few weeks we're going to be looking at different

aspects. Of Abraham's life, we're going

to be looking at how he had to choose to obey and follow

despite all odds, much like us. And yet he kept choosing.

He kept choosing to follow God and he grew in his pursuit of

God. And the beautiful thing about

Abrams life is he's mentioned multiple times in the New

Testament as a man of faith who believed, who took God at his

word, believed him and it was credited to him as

righteousness. When you look today, we're going

to be looking at Genesis chapter 12 verses one to three, which is

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

the call of God on Abraham's life.

Abraham lived with his wife in his father's house.

He lived in Ur which was in ancient Mesopotamia.

He. Lived there and God moved him

and his family out. So his father Tara took Abraham

and Sarah and Lot and other household members and they moved

and came and settled in a place called Haran.

But it was in Haran that God actually called Abraham out

after his father died. So Tara dies, It's just Abraham,

Sarah, a lot of he's a wealthy Chieftain Now he has his nephew

Lot, who's staying with him, and Lot has his household.

And you know, they have a big, big crowd.

And God says to Abraham the following.

He says go from your country, your people and your father's

household to the land I will show you.

I will make you into a great nation.

I will bless you. I will make your name great and

you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless

you, and whoever curses you I will curse.

And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

It's beautiful because this is the basis of of an entire

lifestyle change for Abraham and his household, as it were.

Imagine these guys lived settled in, in this land which seemed,

you know, completely normal and comfortable to them, much like

us. And then God says, get up and

move. And would it have been easy back

in the day? They didn't have trains, they

didn't have planes. They didn't have the kind of

transport we had. They didn't have the comforts we

have, and yet God was calling him into a completely different

lifestyle, one of complete dependence on him.

He said I'm going to take you, I'm going to lead you, but

you'll have to be wholly dependent on me.

You have to listen for my. Voice, you're going to have to

do what I say step by step. And the beautiful thing is the

next verse says Abraham left and followed.

And I want to leave three things with you that we will take away

from this passage. If we want these carefully

curated promises to actually be fulfilled in our lives.

There are three things that you need to do you and I need to do.

The first thing is that we have to leave behind what God asks us

to leave. And this is easier said than

done right? It was required of him of of

Abraham to leave behind Haran. And so it was after Tara's death

that he had to actually leave behind his familiar place, his

people, his homeland, and he had to move out.

It would have been a big ask. Why?

Because he it was a source of his identity.

It was a source of his income. It was a source of his

livelihood. Everything that Abraham knew

about himself for what he could do, what he was called for was

in that place. And yet God was saying leave it

and follow me and the journey would have been long and hard

because He's going to take him from Haran to Canaan.

And you know that was 4. 100 miles apart, it's from modern,

modern day Turkey right up to modern day Israel, which is a

huge distance by foot. They didn't have comfortable

travel, you know, modes of travel, so they were moving by

foot. With a huge entourage with them.

Verses four and five says So Abraham went.

Abraham went as the Lord had told him, and Lot.

Lot went with him. Abraham was 75 years old when he

set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his

nephew Lot, all the positions they had accumulated and the

people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the

land of Canaan and they arrived there.

It's beautiful because age didn't deter him.

He was 75. Of course, at that time, 75 was

like today's probably 35, but whatever, whatever it looks like

on the surface of it, it was a huge move for Abraham and Sarah.

And yet they just did what God said.

Sarah trusted Abraham. She let him take the lead.

Now you have to understand, Lot was a close relative.

Now when God was saying leave behind that which is familiar,

Leave behind your father and his household, Lot was included in

that household that needed to be left behind.

But Abraham was a man of responsibility.

Lot's father had died while they were still in earth and so this

boy was literally didn't have any kind of parental covering.

So Abraham and Sarah probably provided that for him.

And so Lot travelled with them. But it came to a place where

Lot's herds had increased, Abraham's herds had increased,

and both their herds men were fighting and Abraham with.

With so much of forethought, decides to send them on their

way so that they don't fight. They have a good communication

within the family to prevent disunity, he says.

You know what you choose the place you want to go to.

I choose the other place you choose NI choose S such a

magnanimous moment. And So what lot does typically

as a nephew would do as a younger person of the younger

generation. He looks and he sees the the

plain of the Jordan, which was beautifully pastured.

It had so much of water being fed into it.

The place looked well watered and so he picked it.

And this was Sodom and Gomorrah. Reminder not to.

Judge a place by its cover, right?

He picks that he moves Abraham turns to go in the opposite

direction and when he does as beautiful because when he

decided to actually leave the remnant of his household and

cleave to God, it was when God gives him a renewed assurance.

Let's look at Genesis chapter 13 verses 14 to 17.

Genesis 13:14–17

It says it was after the separation that God speaks more

blessing. It says the Lord said to Abraham

after Lot had parted from him, Look around from where you are,

to the North and South, to the east and West.

All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring

forever. I will make your offspring like

the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust,

then your offspring could be counted.

Go walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am

giving it to you. Up until then, there was number

real. Explanation as to what he would

possess, he said. I'll take you to a land, but

here he's actually saying I'm going to increase your offspring

to a point of beyond number. You cannot count them.

He's also saying you walk the length and breadth of this land,

that you look at the land of Canaan.

I'm giving all of it to you. He's actually quantifying the

kind of blessing Abraham's descendants are going to get.

And when I look at that, I ask myself, many times there have

been times when God has asked me to turn my back on things that

were not benefiting the new season I was walking into.

They could have been relationships.

They could have been good. Friendships, they could have

been certain habits, certain habitual ways of thinking,

certain methods of doing things, and God would nudge me and say,

you know what? That is over.

That is over. That's an old season.

I'm calling into a season of new beginnings and I want to ask you

today, what has God been asking you to leave behind?

What has God been saying, Hey, I want you to now take this about

turn and look to me because I have a promise that I want to

see fulfilled in your life. But you need to stop doing some

of the things you were doing in the past.

You need to cut that one relationship off, which is

detrimental. You need to change that

dependency, that dependency on that narcotic, that dependency

on that person, that dependency on that particular gadget.

I need you to cut it off. I need you to leave it behind

because I'm calling you in a different direction.

Maybe God has been saying the dream you've been having is a

selfish ambition. The dream I have for you is

better. Let why not start to dream my

dream? Maybe that's.

Something you have to let go. Maybe it's a method of living.

Maybe it's just something you've you've brought into your life.

It's become a habit and you're thinking it's humming.

Nobody but God is saying this is a new season, this is a new

time. I am doing something fresh.

I want to rearrange things in your life.

I need you to leave some things behind.

I want to encourage you. When you do as God asks, you can

be sure that you step into the adventure of a lifetime.

When we look at Abraham's life, it was not so much a nomadic

life as one of justice implicit. Trust.

He trusted God with what he left behind.

Was it difficult to leave behind a dependent nephew?

It must have been hard. He must have wondered God, will

he be OK? But he entrusted him to God and

stepped back. Stepped back into the path God

had for him. Would it have been hard to leave

behind his brothers families? It must have been.

It must have been hard to leave behind the the wealth that he

inherited back at home. Maybe God is calling you to

leave certain things behind. I know for one, I struggle to

leave things. I joke about it at home, but

both Geshom and my daughter tend to be holders.

They cannot give anything up. Geshom in fact has shirts from

when he was in 8th and 9th standard and I've tried to get

rid of those, but he's so stubborn about holding it back.

And I keep telling him, you're heading into new seasons.

Why are you having the clothes of the past?

And a lot of times, on a more serious note, we are holding on

to the things of previous seasons that we don't need to

hold on to. That bitterness, that

unforgiveness, that sadness. It's time to let it go.

Leave it behind. God is saying, see, I'm doing a

new thing. Will you not step into it?

Will you not look at where we are headed?

And that brings me to my second point.

It says go where God leads. The first thing is leave behind

what God asks you to leave. Second is to go where God leads.

Not where you and I want to go. Like I finished this recording.

I probably want to go to McDonald's and get some Nuggets

and a cold coffee, but I know that at home I'd have a much

healthier snack waiting for me. On a more.

Eternal note, There are many things and many places that God

wants us to take us to. There are many places that God

wants to take us to, but we are so resistant and saying God, I

don't want that. I want to go where I want to go.

I want to go to this place that I know is not good for me, but

God, it, it feeds that part of my dry soul.

I want to do this particular thing in my career, which I

believe will pick me up and put me in that niche position.

But I'm not sure if God wants me there, but I know I want me

there. And it's so important to

understand that we like Abraham. If you want to reap the promises

that Abraham reaped, we need to go where God leads like Abraham

did. You know what?

God was calling Abraham out of earth into Canaan so that for

generations the people of Israel would have that as their land.

God is calling each of us to a certain destination, not just

for ourselves, but for generations to come, a place of

inheritance and occupying a place where Our Calling is fully

realized. It could be God calling us out

of our present, very cushy job into a carry a switch that's

completely different. Maybe it's lower paying, but

completely fulfilling. Maybe God is calling you into a

new city, a new country, where you'll be completely out of your

depth but completely dependent on Him.

Maybe God is calling you from this place of deep unrest into a

place of complete peace, knowing that you are where you need to

be in this season of your life. Maybe God is moving you from one

church to another. Because your time is up in this

one place, it could be the end of a friendship into something

even better. If you look at Abraham's life,

right, he never settled in one place.

Now, I'm not saying that you need to be, you know, a wanderer

hopping from job to job, place to place, church to church.

That's not what I'm saying. But he was ready to move when

God asked him to move when his when there was a famine that

picked up in one place, he knew where he had to go next.

When the famine ended, he knew where to go back.

He never pitched his tents. For too long.

And if you look at the book of Hebrews, Hebrews Chapter 11

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

talks about Abraham and said and all the other heroes of faith

who primarily knew that their eternal place of rest, their

eternal mansions was their destination, not the places they

lived on in earth. As I was watching the the fires

in Lai was watching on the news and just felt so disturbed

seeing houses up in flames. It was very disturbing to see

people standing in front of their blazing homes with with a

small water hose and trying to hose it down and it.

I realized that that's what I would do if it was my house.

But then I remembered that when you look at Abraham's life, he

was always on the move, moving where God asked him to move,

never really settling anywhere, because his ultimate, ultimate

destination was heaven. His ultimate place was a City

made of gold, where the streets were made of gold.

And sometimes we all tend to migrate to looking at the

temporal where that's where our treasure is.

But Abraham's eyes were set above.

It was set on the one who was leading him, not in the house

that he established for himself, not in the garden that he had,

not on the resources that he could accumulate.

But interestingly enough, there were blessings along the way.

Was he accumulating more? Yes.

His household was growing, his possessions were growing, his

livestock was growing. He was getting more wealthy by

the year, right? I would like to say that he was

not nomadic, but his he was dynamic, he was moving.

I I don't know if you remember, but Gheshum was talking about

how our life needs to be 1 of momentum.

Stagnancy is the opposite of the Christian life.

The Christian life, because the Spirit is moving and he's

dynamic. He's moving in and through us.

We can never really settle anywhere.

So even if you're. Settled in a good job.

Praise God for that. God is asking you to constantly

have your eyes on the horizon and saying, God, I'm placed

here. What do you want me to do?

What have you placed me here for?

God? Is this the end?

Is this the destination? Is there more?

How can I be the best here? How can I bring your Kingdom?

On Earth here how can I do your will here?

That's what it looks like to be dynamic and it's interesting

because he. It says he went to Canaan, then

he went all the way to Shechem, then Bethel, then he sets out

and continues into the desert, the Negev desert.

When famine hits, he moves to Egypt, then he returns to the

Negev with lots of added possessions.

So the when you look at his life, there was a leaving behind

and there was a following that was necessary.

When Jesus called his disciples, what was the simple phrase?

He said follow me, come behind me.

If I'm running, you run. If I'm walking, you walk.

Walk at my pace, run at my. Pace.

Soar with me. That is the invitation that each

of us who follow Jesus today as children of God, this is what we

are called into. We are called into place of

following God. Where he goes, we will lead.

And then if, if you notice when we follow God, it'll seem like

there are detours. It'll seem like there's a

wandering in the wilderness for a season.

It'll seem like there's some dryness.

It'll seem like there's some storms.

But the beautiful thing is, no detour is without purpose.

No detour or no set back is without it being a setup.

It's a place where God. Meets us it's.

A place where God uses us. It's a place where God trains us

and it says over here in chapter 14, Lot and his family get

kidnapped by an enemy king when the king of Sodom and Gomorrah

gets goes into a war with these other kings and there's a huge.

You know, conflict that breaks out.

And so this is what Abraham's response was.

Now, Abraham could have washed his hands off, but there's a

sense of responsibility for Lord.

Even though they had split ways, Abraham felt responsible to get

him back, to set him back on his feet in his own home.

And so this is what it says he does.

Genesis 14 verses 14 to 16 says when Abraham heard that his

Genesis 14:14–16

relative had been taken, he called out the 318 trained men

born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

During the night, Abraham divided his men to attack them

and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hoba north of

Damascus. He recovered all the goods and

brought back his relative lot and his possessions together

with the women and the other people.

This seems when you look at this whole chapter, it feels like a

huge detour because. This is something that's

happening in the life of Lot it. Didn't have to concern Abraham,

but it's so beautiful because Abraham was so ready.

He had 300 odd men in his camp who were prepared to go and

fight. Isn't that amazing?

What were they prepared for? Abraham was just a Chieftain.

He was. He was not a king.

He was not a general. He was probably not ever going

to be in a position of war, if you think about it.

And yet he had people trained and this was the perfect

situation in which they could be unleashed.

And as I love those, the use of those verbs, it says during the

night he divided his men. They attacked, they routed, they

pursued. It's amazing and.

He recovered everything, recovered all.

And I want us to, just as a segue, God is calling each of us

when he calls us to follow him. He's calling us into warfare.

He's calling us into head to head battle with the enemy to

take back the things the enemy has taken.

And over this year we're going to see what that looks like.

When we have to possess our inheritance, it means stamping

back on territory that originally belonged to us and

taking it back, telling the enemy you have to take your

hands off this. I'm recovering all.

And that's what Abraham did for Lot, and he restores Lot to his

land, meets the couple of kings, restores all of their

situations, and then goes back to where he's at.

And that is what it's like to be a possessor of the promise.

And that is why Abraham is called the Father of Faith,

because nothing seemed like a detour.

He took everything in his stride.

He was there when Lot needed him.

He came back. We look in later chapters where

he stood in the gap for Lot again for his people.

For the people of Sodom, we look again at how Abraham was ready

to be a blessing to others. And that's what happens when we

go where God leads. And I want to encourage you.

Maybe you're thinking I have followed God where he led me,

but I feel like He let me down. My prayers have not been

answered, others prayers have been.

Maybe you're thinking, well, I feel like I've been in a

transition for too long. I feel like God led me in the

wilderness, but I'm still wandering around in it.

And I want to encourage you that, you know, even though it's

not smooth sailing, He is with you in the storm.

He is with you in the wilderness.

He is with you when it's night for a very prolonged period of

time because the day always comes.

But if He is with you, if He is with you, you can be assured

that you can face anything that comes at you.

You will recover all that has been promised to you, and you

can live like a true possessor of the promise.

He will never lead you where He's absent.

So that's the second thing. It's so important to remember

that when we leave behind the things that God asked us to

leave, we need to now follow God where He calls us to be.

Following Him is all important. And the third thing that comes

just by virtue of doing the first 2 is that allowing we

allow God to bring the blessing, Allow God to bring the blessing.

I love that passage in Genesis chapter 12 which says I will.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

It's a sevenfold blessing. I will make you into a great

nation. I will bless you.

I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will

curse. And all peoples on earth will be

blessed through you. The predominant pronoun being

used here is I. If the onus is on God to bless

Abraham, it was nothing Abraham could do for himself.

And I want if for anyone who's thinking that you, it's based on

you that your blessing comes, you can take that pressure off

you. It is completely on God.

Even when we mess up, even when we backslide, even when we do

things that are disturbingly harmful to ourselves, God is

faithful to his word. God is faithful to his word.

He has not become unfaithful when we have become unfaithful

when we have been faithless, heal and change in being who he

said he was. He's faithful to his word and

it's beautiful here because it says I will make you into a

great nation. Abraham and Sarah had probably

given up. Hear God saying your your

offspring will be as as many as this as the sand on the sea.

And they not even had one kid. Can you imagine how scary it

must have been? God, you've called us from from

the known to the unknown. We have left behind family and

friends. We've come and we're just

wandering around this land. And yet the one thing you

promised us hasn't come true. Is our wealth increasing?

Yes. But the one thing you said that

we will have children hasn't happened.

But the beautiful thing is that the onus is on God to bring the

blessing. It is not on us.

And Abraham and Sarah, as human as they were, try to engineer

that blessing. We'll see that in the coming

weeks. We'll see how Ishmael happened.

It was where a blessing was engineered.

Here, we're not having a kid. Let's try it our way.

And it's interesting enough that sometimes we try to broker our

blessings. We position ourselves in our

career in such a way that this boss sees us, that person sees

us, and then maybe they'll notice us.

Maybe they'll elevate us. We broker our blessing with with

when it comes to people, when it comes to relationships, whatever

it is, we find that it never really ends well when we broker

our own blessing. I want to read from Genesis

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12. Verses 11 to 17 it says as he

was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, I know

what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they

will see this is his wife. Then they will kill me, but will

let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I

will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared

because of you. When Abraham came to Egypt, the

Egyptian saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman, and when

Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh and

she was taken into his palace. He treated Abraham well for her

sake, and Abraham acquired sheep and cattle, male and female

donkeys, male and female servants and camels.

But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his

household because of Abraham's wife Sarai.

Wow. He wants his life to be safe.

He's looking out for himself. So he says you're beautiful,

you'll get away with it. I'm clean.

I need some help. Cover me.

Tell them you're my sister so that I will be treated well.

When you say treated well, it basically means I will be looked

after. They'll give me a bunch of

things and, you know, keep me comfortable.

And that's what he did. It says he gave him sheep,

cattle, male and female donkeys and servants.

And camels. All so that they could acquire

the wife. Unfortunately, God had other

plans. He inflicted serious diseases on

the King and his household. It doesn't end well when we

broker our own blessings, when we engineer our own blessings,

when God promises something, He is the initiator.

He is the fulfiller of the said blessing.

We are required only to obey. We're required to just do what

is required in the present. He brings about the development.

He brings about its evolution. He brings about the completion.

Our role, What is our role? You're probably saying then

what? I don't have to do anything.

No. Our role is to keep our eyes on

the promise maker and to just follow his leading.

It is never to sit in an easy chair and do nothing.

It is to do. As we are.

Told to do this year, this whole year, 2025, as much as we are

positioned to, to possess the promise.

It's not merely a physical position of just standing and

waiting or sitting and waiting. No, it's a spiritual position of

being so filled with faith. To say, you know what, whatever

it is, God, I trust you. Whatever you allow in my life, I

will trust you. Whatever you bring in, I know

that you have got the capacity to carry me through it.

That's what it looks like to be positioned.

And the beautiful thing is when we are positioned, God is able

to actually use us to be a blessing to others.

I think it was sometime last year when Geshom was sharing

with us about us being channels of blessing.

We are not just meant to be reservoirs where we just keep

collecting all the blessing that God gives, but we were blessed

to be a blessing. And he says through you, the

nation's will be blessed. And we think about it today,

because of Abraham's faithfulness, because of

Abraham's great faith in God, today those of us who have

accepted Jesus by faith have access to this God.

We have access to his Kingdom. Has he been true to his word?

Yes. The nations have been blessed

through Abraham. When you look back at that

blessing, when you look back at that blessing, I want us to read

that blessing again. He says I will make you a great

nation. I will bless you.

The nation that came out of Abraham was the nation of

Israel, and God has truly blessed them.

As much as they're dispersed around the globe, God has

blessed them in a very different way.

It says I will make your name great.

You will be a blessing. He says I will bless those who

bless you and whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on

earth will be blessed through you just like that.

Each of us here have been called to be conduits and channels of

blessing. We will never melt to hold it

out, hold it up for ourselves and justice.

Hold it in and you know, sit on it.

God wants us to be channels of blessing.

And I love that Abraham grows in the chapters that you read about

him. When we go to Genesis chapter

Genesis 14 · chapter mention

14, he has grown from Genesis chapter 12 where he was, you

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

know, bartering with the king of Egypt.

Here he comes to a place where it's after the defeat of those

enemy kings who took Lot's family.

He's restored everything. And then he's just literally

having breaking bread with Melchizedek, who's the king of

Salem. And, and this is what that king

says of Abraham, he says. Genesis 14 verses 18 to 24 it

Genesis 14:18–24

says then Melchizedek a king of Salem brought out bread and

wine. He was priest of God Most High

and he blessed Abraham saying, Blessed be Abraham by God Most

High, creator of heaven and earth, and peace be to God Most

High who delivered your enemies into your hand.

Then Abraham gave him a 10th of everything.

The king of Sodom said to Abraham, give me the people and

keep the goods for yourself. But Abraham said to the king of

Sodom with raised hand. I have.

Sworn an oath to the Lord God, Most High Creator of heaven and

earth, that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not

even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never

be able to say I made Abraham rich.

I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share

that belongs to the men who went with me to Eno, Eshkol and

Mamre. Let them have their share.

It's incredible because now came a rich king, the Salem king of

Salem, who we know nothing much about.

Very Christ like in his origins, in his priestly role, but yet he

comes and he blesses him. And the king of Sodom is trying

to bless him, trying to give him the spoils of war.

And Abraham refuses to touch it, saying, let lest it be said that

you made me rich. Abraham had finally come to a.

Place of resting in the fact that it was God who would.

Make him rich. It was God who would bless him.

He couldn't engineer it. He couldn't collect it.

It was on God. And it's beautiful because I

pray that each of us, as we're reading this, we start to see

where we fit in this puzzle, right?

Galatians chapter 3. This is where it actually sinks

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

in and where it sits for us. Galatians chapter 3, verses 5 to

Galatians 3:5–9

9. I'm reading it from the NLT.

It says this. I ask you again, does God give

you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you

obey the law? Of course not.

It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.

In the same way, Abraham believed God, and God counted

him as righteous because of his faith.

The real children of Abraham then are those who put their

faith in God. What's more, the Scriptures look

forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in

his side because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to

Abraham long ago when he said all nations will be blessed

through you. So all who put their faith in

Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his

faith. That's where we fit in you and

I. We chose Jesus, right?

We chose Jesus. We, we came to him in faith.

We we said that sinner's prayer and in faith we receive Jesus

into our lives. We don't see him, but he's so

healed. We have hedged all our bets on

him. We live for him.

We would die for him. That is how we live right?

The minute we come into a faith relationship with God in Jesus.

We have access to the blessing that was given to Abraham.

Isn't that amazing? You and I can claim that

sevenfold blessing for ourselves, provided we are

willing to leave that which we have to leave behind and follow

God where He leads. That's the condition, and I want

to encourage you with this, this 2025.

I don't know what your promise looks like, but I believe that

God has a carefully curated promise for each of us.

The promise he's given me is not the same that he's given my

husband. It's a different promise for

him. The promise he's given our

children is different. The promise he's given our

church is different. But all of it comes into this

place of knowing that every promise in Jesus is yes and Amen

because the one who guarantees is faithful.

The one who gives the promise cannot lie.

The one who's given the promise is perfect in every way.

And that's why. And that's why these carefully

curated promises are us. If you and I stand in faith

believing that God, this promise you've given me you, it will

come through. I believe we're going to see the

possession of those spiritual lands this year.

So I want to encourage you with this.

The promise of increase is yours in Jesus.

The promise of blessing is yours.

The promise of restoration is yours.

The promise of healing is yours. The promise of recovering all is

yours. The promise of Shalom, peace

enveloping your life is yours. The the promise of overwhelming

joy is yours. The promise of you being a

blessing unto many is yours in Jesus.

None of these are. They are ever separated from our

lives. The minute we step into a life

of faith, these become ours. But it's on us to seek God and

ask him, Lord, what is your curated promise for me?

Because I can't take someone else's promise and make it mine

and say God told me this. Did God really say it?

And I would encourage you this week or even this whole month as

we go through the series, that you would come very faithfully

before God and say, Lord, I want a promise for me.

I want a word for me. If God just gives you a word,

ask Him to show you the promise from his word and tag it to that

word. Because anytime God speaks with

his audible voice, it is always tagged to the word of God.

If we would put our faith in Jesus and really trust Him,

these promises are ours in Jesus.

Will doubt and worry step in? Yes, it threatens to creep in

all the time. Will there be these fears of

these things not happening? Yes.

But the key is to hold on to the promise giver with all that we

have. For some of us who are so used

to striving and hustling, God is saying, will you stop trying so

hard and just start trusting me? I've got it all figured out for

some of us who need more. Proof.

More evidence that we heard God. He's saying just take me at my

word, which means that when he gives you that word, tag it to a

promise. Ask him, show me a promise that

matches this word so that I will stand on that promises.

Stand on those promises. Each of us are part of a grander

plan. None of us are ordinary.

One of our pastor friends was teaching us this.

He said you are not ordinary in God's eyes.

You are extraordinary and he has linked you to a greater plan, a

grander purpose. And it's in Christ's promises

that we realize how grand the plan is.

And so maybe it's time that you would start seeking God for

2025. God, what am I being positioned

for? What is the promise you have for

me? I want to just quickly detour to

that place where. Abraham had to go and recover

all. He had to take back what the

enemy had stolen, which was Lot and his loved ones and his

possessions, it says He went there, he recovered all

possessions, Lot, everybody. For too long God has given us

promises, but the enemy has acted like he has ownership over

those plots of land. Maybe our health, maybe our

marriage, maybe our finances. Maybe the generations to come,

maybe over our health and our addictions.

And he's saying, oh, well, I own that.

You didn't own it. But God is saying, I came to

give you freedom. The peace that I give, the world

cannot give. That is yours.

And God has been teaching me personally that any area of

consistent warfare, if you find it in your health, that means

it's a it's an area that the Lord wants you to take back if

the enemy wants to hold on to it.

But if there is warfare in a particular area, you need to

stand up and fight back. And he will give you a warfare

strategy. It could be prayer, it could be

praise, it could be fasting, whatever it is.

But I want you to be unrelenting about what he's promising you

because he doesn't lie. The enemy lies.

He tells you. Well, you know what good health

is never going to be a portion. You're never going to have

restoration of that particular finance.

You lost. It's it's impossible.

It's too far gone. He's going to tell you this

addiction is going to destroy you.

There's no hope for you. You might as well give up.

But God is saying the truth will set you free.

I am the truth. I will set you free.

That is the truth and it requires that you stand on the

promises of God and say no more, no more.

That's a that's a hack I'm giving you identify an area

where you're consistently experiencing warfare.

That's the place you need to reclaim.

Ask God for a promise. Ask God for a promise, and then

stand on the promise and watch the enemy flee.

Stand up against him. But mostly remember this that if

we are to lay claim to the promise that God gave Abraham,

we need to live as Abraham did, which was to leave behind what

was required to be left behind to pursue that which God was

calling him to pursue because we don't want to be like Lord's

wife. You remember Lord's wife.

She had to leave Sodom and Gomorrah and head up into a

small little town called Zua and and the angels explicit

instructions was run for the hills.

Don't look back. And some of us.

I'm so desperate for the new season, but we're so clinging on

to the old. We're like, oh, what if God

doesn't provide for me in the new like He did in the old?

Oh, what if I don't get friends again because I end this

friendship? What will I do with my

weeknights if I stop this particular addiction and this

particular habit? God is saying, I need you to

stop looking back and look forward because Isaiah 43 says,

see, I am doing a new thing. I am doing a new thing.

If we keep looking back, we're never going to see the

magnificence of what He has in front of us.

So we're going to pray right now, and I'm going to pray

specifically that God will help you find that promise for this

year. Maybe you already have it, and I

thank God for that. I pray that you will stand your

ground on that promise that no matter what comes you would say

God, I believe you said this, The enemy can back off because

this is your word. It is unchanging.

It is unshakeable. For those of you who have not

got a word, I don't want you to do the shortcut method.

I want you to take the long winded Rd.

Sit with God every day. Ask him for a word, ask him for

a promise Link the two stand in the gap fight.

For your promise, let's pray. Father, I thank you for this

time. I thank you for all that you are

doing in our lives. I thank you that you have been

faithful beyond measure. God, and I just pray for

everyone who is watching this sermon right now who's been

listening in, I pray that God, you will make clear your word to

them. Whatever the season is going to

hold. I pray you would give them a

word. I pray you would give them your

promise. I pray that they would be

unrelenting in how they pursue you.

God, I pray your Father that they will recover all that the

enemy has taken. They will stand stoic.

They will fight for what rightfully belongs to them.

I pray God for those who are struggling to leave behind.

Things of the past, things of the previous season.

God, you're calling them into a season of new wine, new grain, I

pray Your Father, new oil. I pray that God, they will not

settle for the old. They would run towards you that

they will go where you lead them or Father, Lord, I pray that you

would help them stop. Striving, stop hustling and to

rest in you, God, I pray that you will bring the blessing as

only you can. We pray.

We pray it'll be a year of incredible miracles, signs,

wonders, breakthroughs. We pray God will start to hear

of how people stood and possessed their promise.

I pray, O God, we'll be positioned in faith that our

trust in you will grow each day, that you will help us take you

at your word. We will, you will help us, God,

to just believe the things you say to us and we will see it

unfold in our lives. I pray that Lord, in this year,

this, this season of new beginnings, open our eyes to

hear you. Open our eyes to see you.

Open our ears to hear you. Open our hearts, God, to sense

the things you are. Trying to communicate with us,

lead us, go before us. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Amen.

God bless you have an amazing year.

I pray that as we get into this that you would start to read up

more on Abraham and Sarah and that you would start to learn

off their lives. Because it's such exemplary.

Life so human, so frail, and yet so powerful because of their

obedience, because of their faith.

God bless you. Thanks for listening to this

message. We hope you were blessed to hear

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