"By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for a inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he wad going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect abd builder is God.
Hebrew 11:8-10
some question are being answer in this account 3 week before our cell meeting this was our topic.
Abram had lived all of his life in Ur of the Chaldeans, as had his father before him. He had deep, long roots in that place. Then, when he was seventy-five-years old (think of it), God told Abraham to leave his homeland for a "land which I will show you" (Genesis 12:1).
There he is, getting on in years, he and his wife, Sarah, who is only ten years younger than he is, have settled into their comfortable life together. Suddenly God comed along and invades their nest. His will is clearly stated "Move out"
Now picture the scene: Abraham and Sarah have no children, but they do have a lot of family and friends. And one day Abraham announced to all of them, "We're moving."
"At your age?" they say "Why would you do that?"
"Well, God told us."
"Right. So where are you going"
"Well, He hasn't told us that." (Just imagine the reaction).
So they load up the camels and pile everything they own on the carts and start making their way out of Ur. The biblical account makes it clear: Abraham went out "not knowing where he was going" (Heb.11:8).
Abraham was relatively wealthy man, and now he found himself dwelling in a tent, living like an alien, because "he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Heb. 11:10). (I love that description).
Out of the blue, with no details provided, God said, "Go, and I'll show you where later." And Abraham obeyed by going out, "not knowing where he was going." Talk about releasing and risking. I'm reminded of John Henry Jowett's comment, "Ministry that cost nothing, accomplished nothing." Remember that, in this era of cheap grace. In fact, I suggest you memorize that line: " Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing."
Abraham paid the price of comfort and familiarity in order to do the will of God. This is a classic example of the crisis of belief and the need for major adjustment, of faith and action, release and risk. Discovering and then obeying God's will may require you to leave the familiar and the comfortable. The book of Warren Wiesbe's book Walking with the Giants, one of the giants he write about is Hudson Taylor, another of our heroes of faith.
A Presbyterian moderator in a Melbourne, Australia, church used all his eloquence to introduce the visting missionary speaker, finally presenting him to the cogregation as our illustrious guest." He was
not prepared for James Hudson Taylor's first sentence: Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master."
Nearly twenty years before, Hudson Taylor had written in an editorial, "All God's giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them." As he looked at himself, Hudson Taylor saw nothing but weakness; but as generation of Christian have studied Taylor's life, they have become acquainted with a man who dared to believe the Word of God and, by faith carried the gospel to in land China and saw God work wonders!"
we are only finite human beings. We can only see present and the past. Thr future ia a little frightening to us. So we need ti hold onto His hand and trust Him to calm our fears. And at those times when we're stuborn and resisting and God shakes us by the shoulders to get our attention, we're reminded that we don't call our own shots, that God has a plan for us, mysterious though it may seem, and we wants to be in the center of it.
All the risks notwithstanding, that is still the safest place on earth to be.
Hebrew 11:8-10
some question are being answer in this account 3 week before our cell meeting this was our topic.
Abram had lived all of his life in Ur of the Chaldeans, as had his father before him. He had deep, long roots in that place. Then, when he was seventy-five-years old (think of it), God told Abraham to leave his homeland for a "land which I will show you" (Genesis 12:1).
There he is, getting on in years, he and his wife, Sarah, who is only ten years younger than he is, have settled into their comfortable life together. Suddenly God comed along and invades their nest. His will is clearly stated "Move out"
Now picture the scene: Abraham and Sarah have no children, but they do have a lot of family and friends. And one day Abraham announced to all of them, "We're moving."
"At your age?" they say "Why would you do that?"
"Well, God told us."
"Right. So where are you going"
"Well, He hasn't told us that." (Just imagine the reaction).
So they load up the camels and pile everything they own on the carts and start making their way out of Ur. The biblical account makes it clear: Abraham went out "not knowing where he was going" (Heb.11:8).
Abraham was relatively wealthy man, and now he found himself dwelling in a tent, living like an alien, because "he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Heb. 11:10). (I love that description).
Out of the blue, with no details provided, God said, "Go, and I'll show you where later." And Abraham obeyed by going out, "not knowing where he was going." Talk about releasing and risking. I'm reminded of John Henry Jowett's comment, "Ministry that cost nothing, accomplished nothing." Remember that, in this era of cheap grace. In fact, I suggest you memorize that line: " Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing."
Abraham paid the price of comfort and familiarity in order to do the will of God. This is a classic example of the crisis of belief and the need for major adjustment, of faith and action, release and risk. Discovering and then obeying God's will may require you to leave the familiar and the comfortable. The book of Warren Wiesbe's book Walking with the Giants, one of the giants he write about is Hudson Taylor, another of our heroes of faith.
A Presbyterian moderator in a Melbourne, Australia, church used all his eloquence to introduce the visting missionary speaker, finally presenting him to the cogregation as our illustrious guest." He was
not prepared for James Hudson Taylor's first sentence: Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master."
Nearly twenty years before, Hudson Taylor had written in an editorial, "All God's giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them." As he looked at himself, Hudson Taylor saw nothing but weakness; but as generation of Christian have studied Taylor's life, they have become acquainted with a man who dared to believe the Word of God and, by faith carried the gospel to in land China and saw God work wonders!"
we are only finite human beings. We can only see present and the past. Thr future ia a little frightening to us. So we need ti hold onto His hand and trust Him to calm our fears. And at those times when we're stuborn and resisting and God shakes us by the shoulders to get our attention, we're reminded that we don't call our own shots, that God has a plan for us, mysterious though it may seem, and we wants to be in the center of it.
All the risks notwithstanding, that is still the safest place on earth to be.
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