Call [of Abraham]

Genesis 12

Abram, who was later to become Abraham, was chosen by God to father a great nation. But God had to first get him out of that which could stifle his blessing, stunt his growth and stagnate his life.

He was called of God.  And so am I.  And so are you.

When God calls us three things happen:

I. He Gives Us Directions (vs. 1)

A. Change Our Spiritual Address
"Get out of thy country"

B. Be Willing to Release Some Close Relationships
"From thy kindred and from thy father’s house"

C. Move by Faith
"To a land that I will shew thee."

II. He Gives Us an Identity. (vs. 2)

A. Our Identity - Who were you before Christ?
“A great nation”

B. Our Blessing - A great Name
“bless thee and make thy name great”
We did not make the name great, it was inherited
Acts 4:12
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Philippians 2:9
⁹ Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

C. Our Purpose - What is in us, goes to others
“And thou shalt be a blessing.”
Notice the future tense.

III. He Gives Us Approval. (vs. 3)
3 “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

A. Our Approval - God approves of His children, He shows His approval by blessing those who bless us.

B. Our Anointing - It is dangerous to curse someone who is anointed. Now cursing does not mean a one time act, but a continual act of disregard, disdain and disrespect.

C. Our Appointment - Because we are approved and because we are anointed, God appoints His children to bring blessings to the whole world.
 

This is a call to Trust in God

- Notice how much of God’s promise is still undone at the end of the story!  [v. 5-6]
o Land is occupied by a hostile culture and people
o Abram, Sarai and Lot are now homeless
o And Abram and Sarai have no child.
- This must blow Abram’s mind. How is all this going to happen? He can’t make this happen; not taking the land, not finding a new home, not having a child. He’s been doing that for 75 years and God told him to leave it all behind.
- What’s the point? This is the beginning of a call for Abram to trust in God; not himself, not his talents, not his ideas, not his work, not his friends – Trust in God.
- Our problem is we tend to trust more in ourselves than we do in God to fulfill his promises:
o We trust our skills and talents
o We trust our hard work and long hours
o We trust our wisdom and intelligence
o We trust in our technology and medicine
o We trust our religion, and our practices
o We trust our feelings and instincts
- Abram immediately discovers that if he is going to answer God’s call, he will have to find some courage to believe in someone greater than himself. The same is true for you and me. We have to trust in God’s power, not our own.
- Instead of believing in yourself, start putting your trust in God.


This is a call to be transformed by God.

- Abram’s journey may look right now like it’s a ‘taking hold of’ kind of quest. But very quickly he and we will discover quite the opposite to be true. This won’t be a call to take hold of anything other than God. Instead of taking hold, Abram will spend the rest of his life learning to let go; let go of his doubts and fears, let go of all kinds of passions, to let go of his way of doing things
- God’s goal is to bring Abram to a point where the only thing Abram has left – is God himself.
- God is going to transform Abram in a magnificent way.
- Abram won’t get there by just being a better person; by making a few minor changes in his diet and in his health; he won’t become the person God has in mind by reading a few good books. Abram can’t answer this call with a luke-warm commitment and effort – This is going to require tremendous courage if he is going to follow where God is leading.
- And the same is true for us. Our thought usually is, if God needs something from me, I need to try harder. I’ll try to read a few more books, read my Bible more, say more prayers, pray stronger, pray louder…
- But the question isn’t about trying harder… Trying harder doesn’t deliver what it promises to deliver…
o Remember the story of the little blue engine that thought he could.

The little blue engine looked up the hill
His light was weak, his whistle shrill.
He was tired and small, and the hill was tall,
And his face blushed red as he softly said,
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

So he started up with a chug and a strain,
And he puffed and pulled with might and main.
And slowly he climbed, a foot at a time,
And his engine coughed as he whispered soft,
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

With a squeak and a creak and a toot and a sigh,
With an extra hope and an extra try,
He would not stop, now he neared the top
And strong and proud he cried out loud,
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!

He was almost there when CRASH! SMASH! BASH!
He slid down and mashed into engine hash
On the rocks below . . . which goes to show
If the track is tough and the hill is rough,
THINKING you can just ain’t enough!

All of us have a calling in our life. God is calling all of us to something.
1. God is calling us into a right relationship with Him.
2. God is calling us to be His witnesses here on earth.
3. God is calling us to be ministers of the gospel, ambassadors, and ministers of reconciliation.
4. God is calling us to be godly men and women.

Some are having a hard time today with God’s call on their lives because they feel God must be making a mistake. “Me? No way. I’ve done this and that. I can’t do this or that. I’m not good at this or that.”

IV. It’s Not About Who You Are. 11:27
A. Who was Abram?
B. He was the son of Terah.
1. Part of an idol worshipping family.
2. Possible that Abram worshipped idols.
Joshua 24:2
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.

C. That does not sound like someone who would become the father of many peoples.
D. That is how God works. He does not call us based on who or what we are, but rather on who He is going to make us into.
 

There is nothing about me that I should be here today preaching. There is nothing within me that is good, except that which God has done in me.
 

God’s call on our life means that He desires to call us, as we are, where we are and begin to lead us to the place He desires us to be and to become all that He wants to make us.
 

Look in verse 12:1

God wants to take you and I from someplace to someplace. He wants to take you from where you are, to a place in life He will show you.
He won’t include all the details, but the call comes. Details aren’t needed in God’s call because remember, it’s not about you, but all about God and His calling on your life.

God’s call…

V. Requires Sacrifice. 12:1
A. Anytime we are going to follow the will of God, it will require a separation from something. In Abram’s case, it was a separation from his past. This was no easy thing to do.

B. Abram did not fully answer the call the first time.
Acts 7:2-4
² And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, ³ And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. ⁴ Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

When they left the first time, from Ur, they settled in Haran. We can’t settle for less than God’s will.  Haran had something in common with Ur. There was familiarity there. Both Ur and Haran practiced idol worship with a moon god.
 

When God calls Abram a second time, there is a command to leave all that is familiar. “Go forth from your country.” “Go forth from your relatives.” “Go forth from your father’s household.”
 

1. We are seeing God remove Abram from his comfort zones.
2. We are seeing God remove Abram from his idolatrous surroundings.
3. God will take Abram away from all that would be a hindrance to him becoming the father of a great nation.
 

If you and I are going to truly pursue the call of God on our lives, we must be willing to give up those things that will not move us toward fulfilling that call.
 

Some of us today need to have a funeral. We need to bury some of those things that hold us back from answering God’s call. Jesus said we must deny our self, pick up our cross and follow him.
 

There is good news in the second calling of Abram. God does not give up on a person He is calling.
 

God’s call…

VI. Requires Blind Faith.
He did not know where he was going. “A land that I will show you.”
verse 4 “So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken…”
 

[some material from Kyle Meador, Raymond Dix Jr., & Brandon Revel]