Sermon for Sunday August 23rd, 2009

GOOD-BYE, ABRAM by Bruce Ball

Genesis 12:1-12:3


What comes to mind when you hear the name Abram? Okay, what about Abraham? They are the same man, but he was only known as Abram until he was called to do something special by God - when he was 75 years old! Not long after that, God changed his name to Abraham, which has a specific meaning. It means, ’the Father of many nations.’ And what we find out is that blessing extends down to even us today.

There is much to be learned from Abram that can actually make our walk with Christ today easier. There is an old song we used to sing in our church in Arizona. The name of that song is, ‘I Walk By Faith’, and it is descriptive of Abram’s life, and is also appropriately descriptive of what our lives should be like. The first verse of that song goes like this:

‘I walk, by faith. Each step by faith. I put my trust in You!’

I love that song. The very first time I heard it, I knew it applied to my walk with God. It made perfect sense to me. That is the first time I realized that my personal walk with the Lord was to be none other than a walk where I knew nothing and God knew everything - and I was supposed to trust Him so much, I would willingly go anywhere and do anything He asked me to.

And that blind ’faith walk’ is what I am going to talk about today. And please be sure to note that God calls each Christian to a specific walk of faith. And to properly explain that walk of faith, I think we should talk about Abram’s obedient walk with God, and how ours should be just as focused on God as his was.

I want to begin with this caution: The key word here is ‘obedient’. Anybody can follow God, but most of us do it a little here and a little there. We make sure it is within our comfort zone, or realm of understanding, before we ever think about being obedient and just going toward God.

Let’s turn in our Bibles to GENESIS 12:1-4a. And let’s take the time to explain it as we go through it.

‘The LORD said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house – and go to the land that I will show you.’

God is telling Abram to ‘get up and go!’ But we find something missing here, too. If somebody tells us to go somewhere, what is the first thing we do? We always try to find out WHERE they want us to go, and then we follow that up by asking WHY they want us to go there. We do this because we have this innate need to always be in control of our lives. And there is nothing Godly about that.

God is telling Abram to leave everything and everybody in his life, so that he can properly follow God. How many of us would ever even think about doing that? We are so stuck in our comfort zones that, even though we would never admit it, we would almost forsake our eternal home in Heaven, just so we could be comfortable down here today!

God calls Abram to go, but doesn’t tell him where he is to go. And Abram goes! How many of us would obey that calling today? We see our first sign right there that Abram was serious about following God. He didn’t play ’20 questions’ with God; he didn’t weigh the pros and cons of following God; he did none of those things we would do today, but he did do the one thing most of us would never consider doing today - he instantly obeyed God. What a mighty walk of faith he must have had! And no wonder God chose to bless Abram in so many ways.

God has called us to do many things for Him. Among them, we have all been called to:

··· Have a right relationship with His Son, Jesus.
··· Give witness at every possible opportunity.
··· Be His representative on this earth for His glory.
··· Put Him first, far above everything and everybody else.

Those are just a few of the callings we already have on our lives from God, but let me ask you this; how many of them have we been obedient to? The answer is, of course, none. That is because we are born into a sinful world, surrounded by a sinful devil, and all-too-often are only consumed with what our own sinful desires are. If anything comes at us that is not in our comfort zone, we will most likely refuse it at worst, and barely think about it at best.

But when it comes to God, He wants us to focus fully on what He wants, not occasionally, but with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our souls. He wants to be the number one priority in our lives, just like He turned out to be in Abram’s life.

We hate to hear the truth, don’t we? I mean, the truth sometimes is as hard to cope with as the scratching of one’s fingernails across a blackboard. The truth is, we are idol worshipers. When we let anything become such a priority in our lives that it takes our focus away from God, it becomes our idol and we become the idol worshiper.

JOSHUA 24:2 speaks of idol worshipers even in Abram’s family.

‘Long ago, your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abram lived in an area that worshiped idols. Even Abram worshiped idols. But I took changed Abram and changed his name to Abraham. And I took your father Abraham from there and led him to Canaan, and multiplied him and blessed him.’

The above verse also shows us something else. It shows us that there is always hope for us. If an idol worshiper like Abram can become obedient to God and be blessed beyond their ability to contain the blessings; so can you and I.

There was nothing good about Abram that God should choose him. The same is true about us today; we have nothing good in us that qualifies us to be chosen by God. There is nothing about us that makes us worthy to of Christ’s personal sacrifice on that cross. There is nothing good about me that should allow me to stand here and preach today.

And there is nothing good about any of you that would make God select you to be His followers. God’s call upon our lives is all about what He desires, not what we deserve. And it is His desire to see us all become obedient followers, first and foremost.

Let’s go back to where I was reading to you from GENESIS, chapter 12. I got through verse 1. Let’s continue by reading verses 2,3.

‘I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and I you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the people of this earth will be blessed through you.’

God was explaining to Abram that he was being called to do something for God. God also explained to Abram that if Abram were obedient, he would bless him beyond his ability to take it all in. How could Abram have comprehended being the father of the entire Jewish nation, AND the rest of the world all because one of his future generations would actually be God incarnate?

But God goes on. He tells Abram that if anyone shows him (and ultimately the nation of Israel) contempt, God will show that same contempt back onto them. He says Abram will be blessed, but he will also become a blessing to others. That means everyone who will ever live will have the opportunity to be blessed through Abram’s obedience.

And then, in GENESIS 12:4, we see how Abram responded. It tells us that at 75-years of age, Abram instantly obeyed and he left Haran to follow the LORD.

You have worked very hard to get what you have in this life, haven’t you? You might have a nice home, nice vehicles, good furniture, a good job, and more. But would you be willing to give it all up just to follow God? Would you be that obedient? If so, I applaud you. If not, I wonder what idol(s) you worship that you would put them over your God.

Here is one very important piece of information that will help you in your walk with God, if you let it. You cannot do anything in this world, worthy or unworthy, without making some type of a sacrifice. And any sacrifice you make in any area will always draw you out of your comfort zone.

The problem is we too often choose the bad things in life because the sacrifice they demand always appear to be the smaller ones. Unfortunately, those smaller sacrifices are the most devastating sacrifices in the long run because they are the ones that draw our focus away from God.

We all have grown up being trained, as it were, to be followers. As a child, your parents said, ‘Get in the car. I will tell you where we are going later.’ In the military, we were told, ‘Pack up and go. You’ll find out where you are going when you get there.’ And all that helps us prepare to follow God.

I have just talked about receiving the calling that the LORD has given us, and how to receive it properly. I am talking about not playing games with God, but by being ‘instantly obedient’ to that calling.

For instance, when my son was a teen, I would ask him to mow the yard. Most of the time, he would say, ‘okay’ and just do it. Sometimes, however, he would do everything he could to get out of it. When do you think he received his blessings? I can tell you first-hand; he received no blessings when he tried to get out of obeying me. And we are the same way when it comes to obeying God.

Let’s take a fork in the road now and talk about something else that is just as needed in our Christian walk as obedience is. Let’s talk about faith. Too many Christians today base their faith on two things more than any other. The first was is by their going to church and giving a little of their time or money. The second way is through how ‘good of a person’ they are.

Going to church, in of itself, is no measure of faith at all. Just because you go to church does not mean your heart is with Jesus. And as far as giving our monies; just because we give out of our comfort level, does not mean we are giving to God in faith. When we are willing to tithe, no matter what, we are showing that our level of faith is deep enough to really depend on Him for all we need.

And as far as how ‘good’ of a person we are; let me remind you that the Pharisees of Jesus day were the same way. They wanted others to see how ‘good’ they were and not what they felt towards God in their hearts.

1 SAMUEL 16:7 reminds us how God looks at the inside of man where the heart is, and not on the outside, as that only shows what we appear to be, not necessarily how we really are. We have been talking about Abram following God. What was it that he had that allowed him to freely step out in blind faith, doing what God called him to do, even when the worldly viewpoint would have been that he was putting his entire family in jeopardy?

God directed Abram to do only one thing; ’Leave’. In return for Abram’s obedience, God promised to do eight things for him. But it did require Abram to leave his entire comfort zone behind. He had to give up the land he knew, the culture he had grown up in, and all his friends.

People who walk by faith hear God’s voice telling them, ‘You need to leave now. It’s time to move on to something new.’ Sometimes that word has to do with geography, as in Abram’s case. That is what it was in our situation; geography.

It is very hard to just up and leave. It is perhaps one of the hardest things for us to do. But when it comes from God, it is strangely peaceful. In my case, it was a slow process that took about 5 years from when God first got my attention. And as time went by, that calling got more and more focused. It literally became my all in all. That is why I say that if God wants you to do something for Him, He will give you the desire to do before you step out in faith to do it.

By the time we were to go, we wanted it more than anything else! So, we stepped out in faith, going to a place we’d never been to, to be surrounded by folks we never met, and we did it without a worry in the world, because we knew in our hearts that God was orchestrating it. I look at my faith in God as my ability to actually fall backwards into His arms, never having a doubt because I know He will catch me and keep me safe. And He has never let me down yet.

Abram’s father took all the people he had, and moved from Ur, which is in modern day Iraq, and they moved to Haran. There, they settled in Haran until Abram’s father died. Some time after that, God called Abram to get up and get out.

God never lets His faithful just settle into a place of stability. Just when you reach a certain place spiritually and decide to pitch your tent and relax for the rest of your life, God says, ’Leave.’ This was the story of Abram. In fact, he was never allowed to settle down permanently as long as he lived.

So, Abram’s family left town trying to follow the promises of God. That was their source, and it must be ours as well. We cannot live off the commands of God, but rather His promises. The commands of God reveal his holy character to us, but they hold no accompanying power. Instead, the grace of God flows through the channel of his promises. God must first do for us what he promised, and only then will we be able to walk in obedience to fulfill His commands. Remember, He is our Source – everything we receive must start from him and everything we give must be to Him, and not ourselves.

It is true that God’s moral commands teach us where we fall short, but those commands do not bring us into a closer love relationship with Him. Only the promises He gives us will do that. If we respond in faith, as Abram did, we will receive the blessings that Abram got. That is what kept Abram going throughout his life. By the time Abram arrived in Canaan, God was already adding more promises to the original group. He said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ His abundance kept flowing.

But the great majority of us are command-oriented. Every day we wake up conscious of God’s moral law and try to do right so he will approve of us at the end of the day. Yet this is a great struggle because we are not willing to put that into application. We want God’s blessings, but don’t want to do what He wants us to do in order to get those blessings.

We would be better off if we would wake up thinking about God’s wonderful promises, and what He has said He will do for us today. In other words, if we try to be obedient under fear of punishment, we will be more unlikely to walk by blind faith. But if we were to try and do what He wants us to do because we get excited about His promises and blessings, we would be able to walk by faith much easier, because we would get closer to Him with our hearts of appreciation and love. It is that close relationship that develops a trust in Him, and that trust develops our depth of faith in Him. A faith strong enough to actually follow His calling.

The book of HEBREWS tells us that ‘by faith Abraham obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.’ And that is our call today - to obey, even when we don’t have a clue as to proceed.

Last week, I said we would have a short congregational meeting after today’s message. I have changed that to include the announcement into today’s sermon. It will affect everyone here this morning, but we must understand what true faith is first.

We started this church in September 2006, because I felt then (and still do today) that God called us to do it. He put the desire in our hearts and the vision in or minds as how we were to proceed. We instantly obeyed and followed. We started this church in small converted milk barn. There was no head other than a gas space heater. There was no running water. And the restroom was outside, across the parking lot. It could barely fit 30 chairs. And when God made it possible for us to move, there some who panicked.

They could not realize why on earth a church needed more than 25 people in it, and I was severely taken to task for even considering the move. But I chose to follow God and we moved. Those same people who hated the thought of moving, are very happy with this church location today.

But something happened a little over a year ago. We began growing in numbers and we realized we needed a larger place in which to hold our church services. I must have looked at every possible property during a two-month period, as all I did was go here and go there to look at potential places to move.

And then I found one. It wasn’t perfect, but it offered everything we needed, except a place to gather for fellowship dinners and meetings. It was the movie theater just a block down the street. They would have charged us a little over half of what we pay now, without adding in utilities. They were willing to give us the run of the entire building until noon on Sundays. We would have had a place that sat 160, a place for our youth, and even a place for our infants and toddlers, including their entire sound-system.

But the catch to it was we would have to pay to get out of our lease here. Originally they wanted $9,000 to get out of it. This panicked most of the people in the church. I negotiated over and over with the landlord and finally they agreed to $3,000. That panicked some people just as badly.

And then I did something I didn’t think I would ever do. I chose to forego the new place that God had given us to move into, all so that I could placate some who had a problem with moving. How disobedient of me! Within two weeks, I began to feel ill. Within another month, I was in the hospital. You have seen me as I have traveled this road, getting sicker and sicker, finally a year later, leveling out, and then slowly starting to show healing.

Why did I get sick? I firmly believe that I got sick because of my direct and willful disobedience to God. God said, ‘Bruce, get up and go to the place I have provided.’ And, even as a spiritual leader of people trying to teach them to follow the will of God - I chose to turn my back on God’s will and follow the will of the people.

I am sure that I was being disciplined by God for being disobedient on purpose. We say that wouldn’t be the case today. We say it is different. Why do we think it would be any different today than it was in the Old Testament?

Because we don’t have a full understanding of God. If God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, His ways must be consistent, too. Do we realize how serious that is? Do we realize just how deeply we are intertwined with God’s way, or do we think everything is okay with God as long as it is okay with us?

I honestly believe God ‘allowed’ sickness into my life. But it is very important that we know He didn’t ‘cause’ it. He saw that I made a choice to ignore what He wanted me to do so I could do what other people wanted me to do. And when I did that, God removed my covering of protection and allowed sickness into my life.

He was doing what all fathers do; disciplining a disobedient child whom He loves. It was an attention-getter, and He used it to get my attention back from this world and ungodly thoughts and refocus me back onto Him. And as my vision regained clarity, and my will was submitted back to Him, He has chosen to begin healing me.

In short, I suffered because of a mistake I willingly made. Have you ever told God, ‘NO?’ Looking back, can you either see that you received no blessings in the time period after that, or where you might have even received severe negatives after you told Him ‘NO?’ Or, have you even thought about that?

This comes under the heading of spiritual warfare. If you are like me, you have heard it, you understand the basics, but you haven’t been thrown into the ring and had to actually fight much of it. Or, I should say, I was that way until I came to Catoosa to preach. The devil knew I was not prepared to fight him, so he came at me full force. Most of you know some of what has transpired since we got here, so I won’t go into detail, but I will tell you we were in the middle of a warfare we could not handle by ourselves.

I cannot tell you how many times we prayed, even screamed emotionally, for God’s help in getting through the things we went through. If it had not been for God’s loving mercy and grace upon us, there is no way we could have survived that warfare. And you need to be very careful, too, because that same spiritual warfare is watching you; and the devil is waiting for that one moment he can come in to steal, kill, and destroy you physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

In JOB, chapters 1-2, we are told where Satan was roaming the earth to find someone to destroy, and he went before God Almighty. He said if God took away all the blessings He had given to Job, he would cry out against God and hate him.

God told the devil to go ahead, but warned the devil not to touch Job in any way. So, the devil went forth and destroyed all of Job’s livestock, burned his property, and then killed all of his children. Then the devil went back before God and said if he were able to attack Job himself, surely he would hate God. So God gave him permission to attack Job, but again warned him not to kill Job. So the devil went back and infected Job with incurable boils all over his body.

His wife, such a lovely lady, said, ‘Why don’t you just curse God and die?’ And so we see that Job’s life went from being totally protected from the devil to being totally attacked by the devil. But what we find is that through this entire ordeal, Job ended up with a strong faith in God, and because he was so focused on God, God ended up blessing him with many more blessings than Job started with.

God said for me to plant this church, and I did. God told me to move this church here and I did. God then gave this church a better place to go to, and we said ‘NO!’ Do you really think God would reward me for that?

Why did most of us disagree to go? We were some concerned about the money, but we were most concerned with WHERE it was. We aren’t used to churches being in movie theaters, are we? That was our biggest mistake, feeling that we had to understand what God said, before we were willing to do what God said.

Yet, the church that took our place only had 17 people to start with. Here they are, a little over a year old, and they now have nearly 100 people. Why? Because they received a blessing we threw away, and God blessed them instead of us, because they trusted in Him and we trusted in our wallets, comfort zones, and in the world’s economy.

God’s economy is different than ours. The economy we use is the world’s economy. It makes us focus on what seems immediately good for us. God’s economy focuses us on the blessings we receive when we desire to do His will, for His glory, and in total blind faith – which is best for us throughout eternity.

And after all that’s happened, and all I did against God, He continues to love me. He has called me to take a breather. He has called me to take some time and finish my healing to the point where the symptoms are gone. Even Jesus rested. And He is providing rest for me, now, too.

Have you ever heard of ‘sweet and sour’? When I have Chicken McNuggets, I always choose to get sweet and sour sauce. Sweet and Sour is something that tastes a little bit sweet and at the same time, a little bit sour. Such is the occasion this morning. We will be giving you some information that is both sweet and sour to Diana and me. It is something that will tears of joy and tears of sorrow to our hearts.

When we give up everything we have just so that we can follow our God, it does not mean we will never have tears of sorrow for doing so. The devil will use everything in his power to keep us from accomplishing for, or even following, God.

My father told us kids that when we have something difficult to say, the best way to do it is to just say it, and then give all the details afterwards. God has called me into a blind faith-walk once again. This time, however, it is to say good-bye to some people we have grown to love, admire, and cherish.

With that being said, I must tell you that my precious wife and I are going to be leaving CrossRoads Church. I will be retiring within the next few months so that Diana and I can faithfully walk that walk of faith once more. What a pure joy it is to know that my LORD loves us enough to keep using us!

We shall be moving to Arizona. That will let us be near our children and grand children. Even when God disciplines, He is like the ultimate Father; He still takes the time to nurture, love, and take care of us. That is one thing I don’t want anyone in here to miss, and I want everyone in here to always remember: God loves you more than you know.

Abram went forth even when He didn’t have any idea how to do it. He was instantly obedient to God and he began his trip on blind faith. Trusting God - just because God said.

God is calling us, once again, to ‘GO!’ We choose to be obedient this time and ‘GO.’ God might called some of you, too. Have you felt His call? Have you felt like God was pulling you nearer to Him? Have you listened, or if you have, have you been obedient, or did you come up with a list of reasons why you cannot ‘GO?’

God is calling you to serve. He has called some of you to serve within His church. What kind of a job have you done so far? Where as your focus been? Has it been on being obedient, or has it been on comfort?

God is calling some of you out of a life of sin today. Again, how closely have you listened to His calling? And how closely have you been willing to follow? Sure, it means giving up some of your earthly wants, and it takes your willingness; given in blind faith.

No matter what it is that God is calling you to do, you can only do it if you willingly lay down yourself and obey Him. Quit trying to ask why God would call you. Quit trying to find a way to get out of it. Quit trying to argue with Him.

It’s isn’t about you at all, but about Him. If you are trying to raise your children to know what a true Christian is supposed to do – show them with your willingness to follow God. Not just when it is convenient and comfortable, but when it is hard and you have to sacrifice.

I pray you understand the intent of my message today. Even though I have talked about myself, it isn’t about me. It is about you. It is about you and your willingness to step out in faith to do His will.

I can only leave you with three choices. First, if you would like to have a new pastor, I will help you find one if you want me to. And I will stay here long enough to help the transition be successful. Or, if you choose to assimilate into other churches, I will help you do that, too. And the third choice is to just dissolve the CrossRoads Church.

At any rate, you have a while to think about what you want and let me know. I hope you see the absolute necessity of spending time talking to God about what He wants you to do, and then making the decision that is most faithful to Him. Are you ready to receive the blessings God promises to all who respond in blind faith?

If you are willing to turn a corner in your life today by stepping out in blind and dependent faith, I want you to start by stepping out and coming up here right now.